



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



Poems 

Lyric and Dramatic 



By ETHEL LOUISE COX 




Boston : Richard G. Badger 

The Gorham Press 

1904 



Copyright, ig04 
By Ethel Louise Cox 



LiBRAKY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Recsived 

NOV 7 jyw4 

Gopyriaiit Lntry 

CLASSci^ XXc, Noi : 

10/ Ol/-fc 

COPY B. 






l^et 



CONTENTS. 



PACK 

Overture i 

The Hamadryad 2 

The Daisy lO 

Music 12 

Mutability 14 

Narcissus 15 

Time 18 

Remembrance 19 

Prologue 20 

Psyche 22 

Love and Youth 23 

Sleep 25 

Prometheus 26 

Love 28 

The First Kiss 29 

The Sleeping Beauty 30 

An Antique Gem 32 

Lines 33 

Lost Love 34 

The Voyage ■ 35 

Page's Song 37 

Lethe 38 

In Silent Night 41 

Irene 42 

May Morning 43 



£v Contents* 

PAGE 

Spring Song 44 

Triumph of Death 45 

Earth's Mysteries 46 

Song 47 

An Apparition 48 

Circe 50 

Song 52 

Hymn to Diana 53 

Orion 55 

Whither Flies My Heart? 57 

Epilogue 58 

Song 60 

Allegory 61 

Helen 62 

Song 64 

Magic 65 

Wild Roses Cradle Soft the Golden Bees 66 

The Last Conqueror 67 

Songs of the Forest 69 

Absence 71 

The Question 72 

May 73 

Song for Music 74 

A Thought 76 

Orpheus and Eurydice ^^ 

A Dream 83 

'Bird-Flight 84 

Singing 85 

Confession before Death 86 

The Shepherd 87 

The Hesperides 89 

She Bears a Jewel on Her Breast 91 

The Robin 92 



G)ntents. v 

FAGB 

Night Song 94 

Perdita 95 

-I — '^>Visions 96 

Phosphor, Hesper 97 

Persephone in Hades 98 

Dreams lOO 

Jacob at Peniel 102 

May and Love 105 

Pandora 106 

To-morrow 108 

Loves of the Gods 109 

Songs in 

Flight of Poesy 118 

Elfin-town 119 

Bridal Song 120 

Cleopatra 121 

Phantom 124 

Jacob's Dream 125 

Sappho 127 

- Woman's Love 128 

Melody 130 

Pipes and Dancers 131 

The Crusader 133 

Song 137 

Fatima 139 

Death 140 

Oh, Fountain ! Sparkling Ever ! 142 

Psyche 144 

Prometheus 14S 

lanthe's Song 152 

After Death 153 

Andromeda 154 

Song 156 



vi Contents* 

FACB 

Idyls 158 

Bird's Love i6i 

Lament 162 

Siegfried in the Forest 163 

Love Doth not Shine through Tears 165 

The Pot of Basil 166 

The Enchanted Garden 168 

The Master 170 

Sunken Chimes 171 

Lyrics 173 

The Combat with the Dragon 179 



OVERTURE. 

I who am not mine own but all the world's, 
Whether or star or glow-worm God has loosed 
To light a pleasant, June rose-garden flushed 
And green and full of lutes ; a lamp within 
The rose: or silver planet making choir 
With constellations of the flashing heights: 
Shine, thus loosed, on the greening ways of 

earth. 
Light yours — not mine, since God has given It. 



The Hamadryad. 



THE HAMADRYAD. 

The shepherd, Rhaicos, coming from the meads. 
The river-lawns where fed his snow-white sheep; 
Stretching his length beneath a mossy oak, 
Played, in the shade, upon his sylvan pipe 
Tuneful to the hushed bird amid the boughs 
That over-hung the bright grass and wild flow- 
ers, 
Now let a golden sunbeam slip! and now 
A glimpse of blue sky shine! Idle, he played, 
Till looking up — ah, happy youth! what saw 
He by his side, upon the smooth, starred moss? 
A Nymph, a maid divine ! if those white limbs. 
The wild-rose lip, and deep, soft fall of hair. 
Bespoke immortal race! The polished leaf 
Of oak, and acorns garlanded her brow, 



The Hamadiyad. 3 

Of forest green and grey her succinct robe ; 
And o'er her head a ghttering, humming swarm. 
On gauzy wing, of golden bees circled 
And flitted : woodland odors breathed from her. 
Smiling, she gazed upon the wondering youth! 
But as he, boylike, longed to pluck the rose, 
And trembled and glowed towards her — she was 

gone! 
And but the pressure of her dainty foot, 
Upon the moss, remained to tell of her! 
Unhappy Rhaicos! while the slow dial passed 
From shine to shade; and oped and closed the 

flowers ! 
Until the gods, with kindness looking down 
From higher splendor, would befriend the youth : 
And one warm-breathing summer noon, be- 
neath 
The branching oak, he spied the unwilling fair; 
Her white feet 'mid lush grass and lilies blown: 
And eagerness o'ercoming awe and dread 
Bprn Qf her beautjr, wooed her with soft words, 



4 The Hamadryad. 

And trembling passion. Waning, flushing, coy. 
She listened : then raising her eyes, she spoke — 
"Wilt thou love, Rhaicos? and knowest thou 

whom 
Thou dost sue here?" "Naught know I save 

that thou 
Art beautiful," replied the youth, "For more, 
I'll pray the gods who made thee fair that thou 
Mayest be kind !" "O rash and fond ! wilt love 
A Hamadryad?" "Not a mortal maid! 
Warm, blooming as thou art with lovely youth! 
Nay, then I see that thou art all divine: 
I swoon to touch that soft and flowerlike hand, 
Or fondly gaze upon that bashful head; 
For heavenly airs surround thee: nor hath maid 
Voice like the music falls upon mine ear — 
So sing the Muses. Not a mortal maid? 
Alas, have pity! and my love shall prove 
As deathless as the great days of the gods 
Who know not how sweet 'tis to press some 

handj 



The Hamadryad. 5 

Or gaze into eyes that look back their love — 
As I look deep now into dear blue depths ! 
O wilt thou love me ? wilt thou even kiss ? 
Sweet, with thy promise make me as the gods !" 
"Shepherd, and wilt renounce sweet mortal love, 
That runs through changing seasons, from blythe 

May, 
Then summer, last autumnal days that end 
Where lie the daisies, for my kiss? ne'er sue 
A maid? bethink thee ere thou askest love. 
Pure must the tie be that shall bind our hearts ! 
And dread the doom befalls inconstancy I" 

"By Zeus and twinkling stars of heaven, I swear 
No life to have save what thy lips shall give ; 
My heart held captive by thy sungilt locks 
Where summer lingers warm to kisses prest. 
Nay, fear not ! be mine own as I am thine !" 
Swift came his vows! she barkened, for what 

maid 
Denies belief when tears and sighs prove love? 



6 The Hamadfyad* 

And sank her blushing head upon his breast, 
And o'er them, happy, in the breezy ways 
The rosy Hours fluttered their light wings. 
A dial of flowers marked their perfect days. 
Like sunshine through the veins her presence 

was. 
Or as the blowing of the south wind sweet 
From fleecy April cloud o'er fields of flowers : 
And bounteous life and beauty were her gifts, 
And gracious blisses Nature's self bestows. 
Thus exiled, earth-born hearts desire a love 
Beyond Youth's first shy stars: draw heaven 

down, 
As slipped divinity from sparkling mists 
Before the shepherd startled unaware 
By rose-bloom, dazzling wire of locks bespread, 
A glory floating 'tween her foot and earth — 
Else 'twas the crocus on the greensward sprung — 
Idalian Aphrodite, runs the tale. 
They met at sunset, when the daffodil sky 
A throbbing star held, and the woods were still, 



The Hamadfyad. 1 

And balm-dews dropped from leafy branch and 

spray : 
And "Love," she said, at parting, "Do not push 
Thy bride from thy thoughts when dost leave my 

side. 
Wait, Rhaicos ! wait — or thou shall't lose thy 

kiss ! 
Think then how lonely I await thee here, 
When woods are dim ; and come to-morrow eve. 
An hour before the love-star lights the sky." 
She spoke, nor turned away from his embrace. 
That fond and faithful, stilled her gentle sighs. 
Ah ! luckless shepherd ! beUer hadst thou ne'er 
Known Music's charm, and silver-dropping 

showers ! 
For skilled was Rhaicos both with reed and 

song; 
And 'mid his comrades laid along the sward. 
Each flower-crowned and friendlv-emulous. 
He knew not when the twi'isfht hour drew near. 
Nor saw the windy peaks flushed by the sun 



8 The Hamadryad. 

Ere it sank in the misty ocean baths, 

Nor loosed the arm about his neck, nor heard 

The tongues of sheep-bells from the cloudy 

hills. 
Forgot the hour assigned and bliss in store; 
But prompted by his rich and bounteous love 
Drew inspiration sweet from secret springs, 
H'er leaf-hid charms and beauty undivined. 
And as he paused for breath a yellow bee, 
A bustling elf of May-dews, cowslip leas, 
Buzzed o'er his head and hummed about his lips, 
And driv'n away returned with louder din! 
Till wearied, Rhaicos roughly brushed it oflf, 
Beat back the wingy messenger of love, 
That wheeled with angry dart and flew away 
Towards evening woods and the Thessalian oak. 
'Twas wounded and one fairy wing hung torn! 
But to the Dryad, faithful, it returned 
And showed its bruised wing to her gentle eyes. 
A shriek burst from her sad lips at the sight ; 
And mournful breeze of lamentation filled 



The Hamadryad. 9 

The green aisles of the distant, recessed woods 1 
Then looking up Rhaicos saw the sweet star 
Set in the blue of heaven ; and his heart 
Divining her despairing cry, he turned. 
Stumbling with hasty footsteps through the fern, 
And ran through green glooms of the forest 

glades, 
Forded the runnel trickling through wood-ways, 
And found the oak — the hoary trunk lay prone. 
With vine and hawthorn uptorn by its fall 
And shattered branches strewn upon the sod : 
Felled by no wind that ever blew from heaven. 
Nor answered gentle accents to his calls: 
Nor light and life revisited his eyes ! 



JO The Daisy. 



THE DAISY. 

Opest a golden eye in each white field. 
Sweet, simple flower ! blossom by the way ! 
No fragrance to the rifling breeze dost yield, 
As doth the opulent rose, but to the May 
Thy pearled leaf is dear! and starry head, 
Fed by clear dews, and sun, and ambient air ; 
O'er the bright grass, in dazzling blossom spread, 
When all the fields with buds and sprays are 
fair! 

A white lamb that adown the valleys strays. 
Folded 'mid lilies by the crystal stream; 
A ship upon a faery main, sea-ways, 
Afloat ; a star of evening dost thou seem ! 



The Daisy. tt 

Lighting the vaporous twilight with thy sheen, 
Meek blossom ! that breath'st of innocent hours ! 
The rustling leaf, soft breeze, clear skies between 
Green gloom of boughs, and pastoral life of 
flowers ! 



i2 Music 



MUSIC. 

Thy hand is on the harp-strings, and thy voice, 
A silver fountain of pure melody. 
Rises in sunny joy, in rapture free! 

What whispers from the past breathe o'er the 

strings ? 
Magical odors, and an April breath 
From green fields where a lost breeze wander- 

eth? 

Blue skies and silver leaf and bloom and scent 
With thy tones mingle ; and a joy as shy 
As one faint violet lone 'neath the sky. 

Until thy voice sinks with a twilight sadness: 
In the dim distance, memories steal, unheard: 
In the grey dawning, pipes a wakening bird. 



Music J 3 

Thy voice leaps like a. fountain, sparkling bright ! 
Then like a white swan on a winding river, 
It solemn drifts, slow-singing, chanting ever! 

Unto my soul it speaks of bygone things, 
Of vague hope, of a splendor yet unknown, 
Of dim airs from a wasted planet blown. 

Like Hebe, drops of nectar-fire thou pourest; 

Till frame we golden ladders to the sky; 

We drink and, god-like, think we shall not die ! 

Now, dropping from the skies, a songful bird, 
Content, thou singest, with old fields and bowers. 
The green grass, and the simple daisy flowers. 



J4 Mtttability. 



MUTABILITY. 

We prize but what we lose ! could the spring stay, 
With its pure skies, perfumes, and rose, alway, 
Nor burn to summer bright — stayed that fair 

star, 
A-tremble in the evening hush afar. 
Fixed in mild splendor in the purple sky! 
Would our hearts leap with the May morn? or 

sigh 
With passion for that one white sphere? so fair, 
O Youth, wild, white swan of Life's sea ! wbuld'st 

e'er 
Be, if we knew not that on some green day, 
Thou would'st flee far, on faery seas away. 
To visionary lands, and meadows deep 
In fabled asphodel, and mists of sleep? 



Narcissws. i5 



NARCISSUS. 

Beside a little stream, upon whose tide 

The primrose trembled — crown and lovely 

leaves 
Glassed in its crystal — on the dewy sward, 
'Midst budding flowers, knelt the youth, and 

gazed, 
Fondly, upon the lucid wave that gave 
Back to his longing eyes, the image bright 
Of white brow, golden locks fallen upon 
His shoulders clear, the rose and lily of 
His cheek, and amorous, flower-like mouth, 'jn- 

tent 
Upon that vision fair, he let slip by 
Each rosy hour from dawn to eve. A bird 
Upon a nearby spray lighted and sang. 



t6 Narcissus* 

Warbling and fluttering in the light breeze 'mid 
White-flower buds : a golden butterfly- 
Darted above, with eyed wings spread: the rose 
Oped wide, in fragrance, to the hovering bee 
Murmuring in her amber cells : and through 
The silver stream, the flitting fish winnowed 
The current bright : but all unheeding, gazed 
Love-lorn Narcissus on that beauty fair. 
Wave-born; and oped his lips, in sad lament — 
"O whether nymph of the clear stream, with locks 
Pearl-braided, lily-crowned, who from thy deeps 
And grotto cold, arisest to the marge ; 
Leaving thy lilies for these pastoral flowers ! 
Or bride of the Sea-God strayed from the wave. 
The glittering foam, and white flocks of the 

deep, 
And plunging dolphins ! Amphitrite art : 
Have pity on my love and sighs; and on 
My constancy that holds me here, forlorn; 
Afar from shepherd life. Sweetest, forsake 
Thy brimming wave for this fair, flowered lea ! 



Narcissus* J 7 

Thy songs for my fond adoration ! come ! 
For if I may not have thy love, I die ! 
Forget thy golden sands, and icy wave. 
Green-gleaming through the rushes : here are joys 
As sweet — and waiting thee, here kneeleth love !" 
He paused — and Echo, from the far, blue hills, 
Alone made mournful answer to him — "Love!" 



J 8 Tim.1 



TIME.. 

A radiant child that o'er the blossomy lawn 

Wanders, a playmate of light shade, and wind. 

Of golden bee, and wild bird hymning dawn ; 

Plucking sweet flowers, with a changeful mind ! 

Pure violet, and lilies, golden leaf, 

Crocus aflame, all buds the butterfly 

Quivers above: sudden! beyond belief 

The sunshine fades between far boughs ! the sky 

Is lost, and gloom the forest arches wild, 

Dense, silent, desolate in reedy deep ! 

Night falls through dusk of ancient boughs. The 

child, 
Frighted and lost, drops its bright flowers, to 



weep 



They die, and fade away like magic mist, 
Rose, beryl, sapphirine, and amethyst! 



Remcmbfance. J9 



REMEMBRANCE. 

Like halcyons, drifting on a spangled wave 
Reflecting serene skies, whose bright wings lave 
In liquid pearl, and lovely necks entwine* 
So thoughts of thee on memory's dark sea shine, 
And only come upon a quiet deep, 
With floating flower branch, and winds asleep 
With influence mild, and starry mystery. 
And soft reflections in the dreaming sea! 



20 Ftologue* 



PROLOGUE. 

With chaplets of myrtle, and of the rose, 
My brows are bound ; my robes of Tyrian blue, 
Color of the clear sky, fall from the clasp 
Of price, gleaming on one bare shoulder white, 
Beneath the careless strings of night-black hair. 
The golden lyre trembles 'neath my hand 
So soon to free its prisoned soul, to strike 
Its highest chords. Ye, in your places there ! 
Arising, tier on tier before my eyes : 
Ye human faces, I have loved, and toiled 
And anguished for — and triumphed! ah! too 

loved ! 
Too dear, with raptured eyes! Ye throbbing 

breasts ! 



Pfologftte. 2 J 

And eager hands, half stretched to grant the 

prize, 
The rods of HIies, tremulous, dewy-fresh 
With sparkling drops. Above is the blue sky, 
Empty, save':for the sudden crane-flight, with 
Its clangor, from the marshes and the sea 
Lipping and whispering on the shining shore, 
'Mid shell, and spangle, and strange water-lives. 
O heaven and earth meet in this life ! Look, still — • 
Turn not your eyes away, because my breast 
Bursts with its sighs of hope and longing! bend 
Still on me all the love and praise ye speak 
Silently; while I wake the lyre's strings; 
My heart aflame with rapture ! Hear me ! This 
Hour is immortal, and we cannot change! 
One touch of showery, pearly notes — listen ! 



22 Psyche. 



PSYCHE. 

O butterfly, darting from sweet to sweet, 

On glittering, rainbow wings ! when hushed and 

dark, 
All the dim season, shut in still retreat, 
Swathed like some mummied. Eastern king, didst 

harR 
To sounds beyond ? hadst still a hope? didst see. 
In dreams, blue skies, fresh flowers, and bloomy 

lea? 

E'en so, my soul ! at times a blinding ray 
Streams through wide doors upon thy mortal 

walls ; 
And gleams of Heaven shine upon thy way ; 
A visionary glory on earth falls ! 
And like the humble pris'ner, thy thought sings ! 
And dreams of Paradise, and dazzling wings ! 



Love and Youth. 23 



LOVE AND YOUTH. 

Vines robed it, with a tremulous, flickering 

green ; 
It stood o'erflowered with the rose between 
The sprays where oft a bird hung, with a note 
To which the mild sky, with one star afloat, 
Listened — ^the wall where we were used to meet, 
And talk, when May and Love and Youth were 

sweet ! 
Bursting in blossom ! Could dumb stone feel 

pride 
At your white hand upon it? thrill, beside, 
Under your heart beats ? for the birds knew ! 

each. 
Warbling and wooing, matched your tender 

speech — 



24 Love and Youth. 

Bird-pipe and love-note to my soul ! Still sing 
They 'mid their balmy boughs and blossoming; 
And stands the old wall, dream-like, 'Heath sprays 

tost 
To breeze and sunlight — only we are lost ! 



Sleep* 25 



SLEEP. 

Soft fall upon mine eyelids, gentle Sleep, 
Like rain of roses ! though I wake to weep, 
Quiet my heart! 

Bring on thy wings that peace that day denies, 
The dewy balm that with the morrow flies ; 
And then depart! 

Love hath its own sweet joy and dear delight : 
And Thought its aery blisses, fancy light ! 
Dearer thou art! 



26 Pi'ometlietfs* 



PROMETHEUS. 

The Gods, above, within their shining fields 
A sheet of trembling blossom to the marge 
Of heaven's brooks gleaming beneath fruit trees ; 
'Mid song and glow and fragrance of the rose, 
Stretched in Elysian ease, regard this world : 
Create and mar, at will ; lift to their love 
Some dazzled and adoring shepherd prince ! 
Seat him in power above the island kings : 
Till wanton falls he, in the lust of eye, 
Ruling his golden court; forgets the dues. 
The amber wine, and precious gums, lilies. 
Or dewy herbs, or sacred sacrifice 
Of the white oxen of the lowing herd, 
Allotted the Divinities supreme. 
Then fall the thunderbolts from flashing 
heaven. 



Piometheos. 27 

Upon the race. Their children innocent, 

For ages, to vengeance are sacrificed! 

But I who love m-en only ! love to death ! 

I brave ye, oh, Olympians ! and will leave 

This quiet vale of myrtles, and the fields 

Familiar, this sweet, still, pastoral life. 

The home, and household love, harvest, and 

spring 
With murmuring bees, and balmy breath of buds. 
To struggle with ye for this race I love! 



28 Love. 



LOVE. 

Like trembling echoes of forgotten music, 
Faint, balmy odors of rose leaf, like dreams, 
The first bird notes by tremulous, glimmering 

stratms. 
Soft melancholy bom of Beauty, light 
Of dazzling spheres, thou comest, spirit bright! 
O'er earth and sky thy light and radiance shine ! 
On vales enchanted, breathing buds divine ! 



The First Kiss. 29 



THE FIRST KISS. 

All through the fragrant evening ran a sound, 
A piping shrill and lone, the meek complaint 
Of some warm-breasted bird left desolate ! 
And hearing, soft we parted the white boughs. 
Beneath a show'r of brittle, snowy leaves, 
And found, within, a little, empty nest 
Wrought fine and fair, and warm as a true heart 
For sheltering Love : her balmy cheek near mine : 
And frequent came that simple sound of grief : 
One wistful tear fell, and her bosom heaved ! 
We turned amid the blossoms, dewy-sweet — 
And with a touch, eyes fell, and our lips met ! 



30 The Sleeping; Bcaoty. 



THE SLEEPING BEAUTY. 

No more doth smile the blushhig earth 

Since my love's gone to rest ! 

She took the sunshine in her hair, 

The lilies on her breast; 

Bright roses died to make her fair, 

With glories of the west! 

.* * * * 

The glowing leaves oped sweet for her. 
With silent pearls of dew; 
The violets, beneath her eyes. 
Sprung from the sod and grew-~ 
Gazing upon those azure skies ! 
A sheet of tender blue! 

The daisy shone beneath her tread 
In fields with blossoms drest. 



The Sleepingf Beauty. 3 J 

Wooing the wind with lovely mirth ; 
Now close each leaf is prest ! 
No more doth smile the rosy earth 
Since my love's gone to rest ! 



32 An Antique Gem, 



AN ANTIQUE GEM. 

Borne swiftly by the dazzling chariot wheels. 
Her out blown hair starred with bright buds, her 

arms 
Half loosened from her fragrant spoil of flowers 
New opened 'neath the honeyed dews, star-bright 
In her dark lover's arms, Persephone 
Shrinks frighted : all the glowing buds and bells 
Shut fast their golden eyes ! their warm bloom 

pales. 
Beneath the shadow of the winged steeds ! 
And runs a shudder through the flowery earth 
At sight of beauty on the breast of Dis ! 



i^nes. 33 



LINES. 

My tender song, fly from my heart away 
Unto that Lady whom Love honoreth; 
And flute and sing to her, my song, and pray 
Her to Hst to thy golden notes — Love saith 
Thy little wings she hears — as on a rose 
The bee clings, so with thy melodious close 
Seek thou a lovely haven on her breast, 
And rise and fall e'er, with its soft unrest. 

My song, say to her that thy beauty grew 
From her eyes ; and if sweet and innocent 
She find thee, thou dost dear delight renew 
Near her ; from her meek loveliness is lent 
Joy to thy singing ; and that Love our Lord — 
Most pitiful to him who holds adored 
Her gentle self — bade thee, with wish confessed, 
To flutter forth, and seek that Lady's breast. 



34 Lost Love. 



LOST LOVE. 

From the green sward, the Spring will call the 

flowers. 
With low voice of the wind : all faded forms. 
Brown stalk and withered leaf, will spring in 

bowers 
Renewed, in dewy fragrance. Gilded swarms 
Of butterflies will float, on glancing wing! 
Once more, 'mid orchard boughs, the linnet sing ! 

But O fond soul, no more shall e'er return 

Thy fading May, the purple violet! 

Thy sun no more o'er blooms and sweet fields 

burn ! 
Thy looks on me are dim, thine eyes are wet. 
Love lost, and glittering youth untimely gone. 
Scant, lingering years remain for thee to mourn ! 



The Voyage. 35 



THE VOYAGE. 

1600. 

Set sail ! and tempt the great deeps of the sea. 
Once more, friends of my heart ! where blossom- 
ing, 
In rosy waters, wild with tossing vine. 
With bud and golden fruit and lilies gemmed. 
With boughs hung with a rosy treasure, sward 
Set thick with flowers, and the fragrant air 
Flashing with wings, and sweet with gurgling 

songs 
From tiny throats, the Western Isles shine bright. 
Over the glittering sea, our course set ! for 
The world is opening out before us, rise 
The shining heavens to a higher sphere ! 
And life is infinite ! Here, ancient ways. 



36 The Voyagfc* 

Old tales, known paths shut in upon us : here 
The street, and fountain, and old household talk, 
The quiet closes, and the doleful bell 
To toll the end of all things — there, the stretch 
Of boundless waters, and a widening sky. 
And great Hope leading us ! Ye mariners, 
Bold brows, and brother hearts ! let the wind 

take 
Our sails, and white drifts foam about our side: 
Lift we one white star on our prow, and sail, 
Beyond this world, out on the sounding seas ! 



Page's Song» 37 



PAGE'S SONG. 

Violets, earliest in the year, 

Cover a green bank bright with May : 
Ope, fragrant — an orbed dew drop clear 

In each blue heart: gone in a day! 

But waits the bank all year for May ! 

One moment leant she on my breast — 
Then left the tremulous heart she thrilled ! 

Pain followed her, my bosom's guest: 
But Love sings still, with rapture filled ! 

And broods above the empty nest! 



35 Lcthc. 



LETHE. 

Shadowy, glimmering, 'mid pale amaranths, 
The dim, mysterious stream went from its source, 
Deep in a sunless land, and to its side 
Pressed countless, pallid shapes. With hope, de- 
spair, 
And resignation meek, they stooped to drink 
Its mystic waters ! when its bubbles touched 
The lip, they smiled in mute f orgetf ulness : 
And those who wept lingered — yet drank! 

Among 
Those faint shapes saw I, suddenly, her who 
Held my heart through all fires of anguish ; veiled 
Her brow and breast save where the golden 
locks 



Lethe. 39 

Shone o'er one shoulder, on her passionate heart 
Lay liHes of white peace. She stooped — "O 

stay!" 
I cried — "Drink not, love! lo, miserable we! 
All's lost — life, green fields of earth, sun and 

stars. 
And our far palace by the blue sea! naught 
Remains but love — so we would have it, in 
Our pain and passion ; and passed ! in great light. 
And music — O the gods ! the pitiless gods ! 
Take not love, also ! do not drink !" but she 
Came to my side, and kissed my brow, and 

called 
Me by my name of past days, and raised to 
My lips the cup — "Drink, love," she said — ^her 

voice 
Made melody to my soul as of old : 
Her eyes were veiled — "Drink !" "Do ye wish it, 

then?'* 
I cried, "Francesca, do ye wish it?" Sighs 
Shook the piale lilies at her breast : once more 



40 Lethe. 

She raised the dewy cup within hef palms, 
The limpid water sparkled at its brim, 
"Drink!" said she softly — then tears fell within 
The chalice, mingling with the crystal draught! 



In Silent Night. 4J 



IN SILENT NIGHT. 

In silent night, the rose her glowing head 
Bows shadowy, and one lost pearl falls bright 
From 'midst her radiant leaves ! The bulbul, 

led 
By love, sings to her hushed heart his delight. 
The winds breathe soft; their gentle murmurs 

fail: 
She hears and dreams, under her shining veil; 
And 'neath his love, she dawns, in answering 

light 



42 Irene* 



IRENE. 

With rose-carnations breathing on the air 
The spices of the East, of bowers fair 
Where walked the Sultan's daughter, golden- 
veiled ; 
With milk-white lilies ; roses whose sweets failed, 
Two days blown; with a silver, bubbling stream 
Winding, 'midst reed and iris, its bright gleam; 
Her perfumed garden blooms. The wicket wide 
Opes; but she walks not 'mid the lilies* pride! 
Yet she has left a glory on the grass: 
A beauty on the flowers that saw her pass, 
When, on the quiet eve, rose the first star 
Within the tranquil heaven blue and far! 



May Moling. 43 



MAY MORNING. 

Amid an ash-tree, bending o'er a stream, 
A little pool of quivering shade and gleam 
Half hidden by wild flov/ers, its waters bright 
By the breeze blown in curling ripples light, 
While ruddy leaves which from the rose-tree 

fall 
Drifted adown its shallows; a sweet call 
I heard, a sudden cry, a sylvan note ! 
A jocund voice upon the breeze afloat ! 

No sweeter note of gladness have I heard 
E'en when with warbling rapture of each bird 
Rejoiced the golden hours of infancy; 
When dawned the day in splendor, sympathy 
With every flower that trembled on the green : 
And this chance music of a joy unseen 
Mingling Delight with shadowy Memory, 
Will live, fore'er, in pensive thought for me! 



44 Sprfngf Songf. 



SPRING SONG. 

Where boughs are glistening and white 
With dewy buds, and banks are bright 
With violets, a little spring 
Glasses green rushes, and bird wing 
That dips its silver breast and clear — 
With rosy hours, awakes the year ! 

Swallow! from blue seas, sunset-springs. 
Flying this way! pear blossom flings 
Wide star rays white; and orchard trees 
Dream of small nests, swung by the breeze, 
Thrush-note, and fairy pipe, and bee 
Murmuring a quiet melody! 



Triumph of Death. 45 



TRIUMPH OF DEATH. 

When thou art gone the rain will fall ; the wind 
Blow its clear trumpet from the east ; the year 
From dewy April, bud and blossom twined, 
To the ripe season of still days, nights clear, 
Gold rinded fruit, and purple grape, and trees 
O'er-laden with Hesperian gold, acorn. 
And harvestings, and amber hoard of bees, 
Will slow advance. Still will the radiant morn 
Rise o'er the dewy earth; live all delight. 
Stars, waves, and winds, and the birds' melodies. 
The crescent moon through wan clouds glittering 

bright. 
And the long sighing of the perfumed breeze. 
Mysterious waters murmuring in the night: 
All Beauty, all Delight will, rich, live on 
When thou, who blushest Beauty's self, art gone ! 



46 Earth's Mysteries. 



EARTH'S MYSTERIES. 

There is a flow'r I love, I know not why ! 

It springs when May sHdes, with a balmy show'r 

Of sweet buds, from a rosy cloud to earth, 

With star of eve and rose and butterfly; 

And yearning tears oppress me when that flow'r 

Starts from the dewy sod, a lovely birth! 

Could I tell where the rose of yestermorn 
Now blooms, where are thy kisses and thy 

tears. 
Whither the splendor-winged Hours fly. 
Then not unmindful I should cherish on 
That flow'r that under windless skies appears. 
The little flow'r I love, I know not why! 



Song. 47 



SONG. 

Love, honeyed rose, the breathing flower for all ! 
But for me my tears, at her knees ! the bee 
May find a ruby cup, a dazzlmg breast, 
To hover o'er, which the rapt bird sings to — for 

me 
The heart never to be possessed ! the cold, sweet 

eyes! 
The moonlight beauty, passionless o'er my sighs ! 



48 An Apparition* 



AN APPARITION. 

Alone, beside the dying fire, I sat: 

Wind, rain without — hunger and cold within! 

When she came knocking — "Who is there?" I 

cried. 
"Do you not know !" she answered, and came in. 
And knelt beside me, with my hands in hers, 
H'id in her beauteous hair ; and then I knew 
Where'er she came from, what strange, faery 

land, 
Beside a haunting sea, she loved me ! could 
Not reet from me! but came gliding back just 
To see what sorrow now I suffer, draw 
My head within her arms, or kiss the new 
Scar on my brow — she loved me so! The fire 
Falls, raves the wind without, I sit alone: 
And she is queening it, at some court-feast. 



An Appantion. 49 

Out there, shining 'neath torches; jewel starred! 
Beside the ancient Duke who wedded her, 
Last year — the world is hers! How the wind 

wails ! 
And comes a sound of sobbing on its breath! 



50 Qrce. 



CIRCE. 

From brake of roses issuing, she came; 
Her white robes fluttering to breeze, and flower 
Set gem-hke in the sunny sward : and passed 
To deepest nook of the dim forest old, 
A covert dusked from slipping, sunbeam gold 
O'er lilies white ; and where the fern and rush 
And ivy grew wild, 'neath the hanging boughs 
Breeze stirred above, in arches dark — where once 
A bird piped sweet and high and lone! with trill 
Of elfin mirth; below, in waters clear, 
Sweeping a little runnel, silver-bright ; 
With reed and flag flow'r nodding o'er its shal- 
lows 
Crystal. A sylvan pipe held she, shut in 
One white hand ; and ere long set it to lips, 



Gtce. 5f 

Like buds of blush rose, and made melody- 
Strange, weird, bewildering! a trembling strain 
That hushed breeze, bird and leaf; and filled the 

wood 
With dim enchantments! golden hazes! So, 
Piping, she went : and slowly from the shades, 
With laggard paw, and crouching back, and dim 
Eyes wistful on her face, a wizard rout 
Snouted, tusked, bestial ! brutes, yet men in love 
For their enchantress mistress came, strange 

shapes ! 
And grovelled at her feet : the while she played, 
Happy in power and charms! and longing for 
The hour when she would snare Ulysses, in 
Her toils of magic, and of loveliness ! 



52 Songf* 



SONG. 

Ah, why should sorrow linger in the rose? 

Beam with the first star in the sapphire sky? 
Dwell in the sparkling glance of her we love? 

Ah, why should we be bom to weep, to die? 

True, heaven were best, but earth is flushed with 
June: 
We love — but soon to death we, restless, turn : 
The flowering sod, the crystal star on high — 
We pluck the flow'r, 'tis ours! starward we 
yearn. 



Hymn to Diana* 53 



HYMN TO DIANA. 

Where art thou, Queen of the sky. 

Shepherdess of heavenly flocks 

Wand'ring aery lilies by? 

Dost, with amber, floating locks 

Dripping from the crystal pool, 

Thy white limbs, immortal, cool 

In the rippling waters, 'mid 

Woodland nymphs, in forest hid: 

In the brakes where buds the rose, 

And the doves of Aphrodite 

Wing through branches gnarled, where grows 

Ivy tendril, spring the bright 

Lilies, rai"-washed; while serene 

Light vaunts Deity, unseen? 



54 Hymn to Diana. 

Wand'rest by the purple sea, 

Where the frisking dolphins play? 

Or upon some grassy lea, 

Smooth and soft, where white flocks stray 

Feeding 'mid dew and sweet flowers, 

Dost thou spend thy honied hours? 

While thy nymphs, for thy delight, 

Weave in mazy measures light! 

Come, Beloved ! On the sea 

Hesperus, arising bright, 

Heralds thy divinity! 

Wander down the heavens white ! 

Constellated flowers shine 

On the deep meads, crystalline. 



Orion* 55 



ORION. 

When Morning oped her gates of pearl, and 

shone, 
In tremulous and growing splendor, o'er 
The dawning east, and dewy earth, the sheets 
Of lily and the fields of daffodil. 
Green hills, and flower-sweet meads, and choirs 

of birds. 
With music of the morning star and May; 
Looming against the misty, purple hills, 
Orion rose and journeyed towards the sun. 
Blind groping, stood he, with his feet in flowers, 
The mealy gold of meadow blooms, his brows 
Against the spangled east; and listened to 
A thrush that 'mid the valley lilies sent 
Its sweet morn music up to the clear sky. 



56 Orion* 

The mighty bow swayed from his listless hand: 
His giant shadow hung on the bright grass : 
And slow his stumbling steps went towards the 

east 
Over the dark earth, where Apollo soon 
Would climb the golden pathways of the dawn, 
'Mid song and worship and fore-running light. 



Whither Flies My Heart ? 57 



WHITHER FLIES MY HEART? 

Ah, whither flies my heart? I see again 
The stream, the hill, the flowering garden trees ! 
And in the silence, some enchanted bird 
Sings — ^her small, sheltered cottage see I — then 
Comes the soft music of the sighing breeze. 
No longer may her gentle voice be heard : 
Her bow'rs are empty — and she dwells apart ! 
Ah, whither flies my heart? 

Ah, whither flies my heart? the nightingale. 
Each spirit of the spring, seeks its sweet mate 
Upon the golden, visionary earth 
Of dreams — with May, I linger in her vale, 
But fields, and wood, and green are desolate ! 
No more for me triumphal love or mirth ! 
They've borne my love to foreign lands apart ! 
Ah, whither flies my heart ? 



58 Epilogfue' 



EPILOGUE. 

'Tis ended ! they lie dead there, side by side ! 
His arm thrown o'er her head, whose great, gold 

locks 
Hang, hide their faces from mine eyes. Now, 

may 
I free her from his languid clasp — embrace 
Her neck — trembling to touch its snow ! and kiss 
The rose-like lips, so flower-soft: may possess 
Her dead, who loved me not — never was mine ! 
Lift the white lids, and wonder at the blue 
Heaven, shrouded from the light ; and gather up, 
With tender hands, this fragrant, glittering 

flood, 
Her hair — for they lie dead, there, in their love ! 
And I live who have seen this hour advance, 
Slow, step by step, with shrouded eyes, until 
Its footfalls echoed, hollow, on our hearts. 



EpiIo§f«c. 59 

So pure, so childlike in her sleep! Sinned they? 
Was the fault mine ? or in this death-blind house, 
Walks Fate, gigantic, awful? Had I died, 
Who had not love or youth ; and left the sun 
To them — were it well? Vengeance, tastes it 

sweet ? 
Beholding their white faces whom I loved? 
At least, they are at peace ! for e'en 'mid death 
I see the hues of sorrow on her cheek, 
'Neath her shut eyes : and brother-like, he loved 
Me, ere he fell ; knighted and given to God. 
Bring torches ! lift them up, and bear them hence 
To the dim choir, where the sunlight falls 
In silver beams, the silence breathes of prayer, 
And the great angels burn, in glittering rows ! 
Massed, breaking from the shadow, in gold 

light. 
Cover the lovers with pale rose drift : lay 
Them side by side; and leave them there, with 

God. 
Tread softly! for they lie as if asleep! 



60 Songf. 



SONG. 

Lute strings, and rose, and blue sky o'er I 
In fifty years could we love more? 
Is't ay or no? 

A, star that bends, the mere above! 
What is our life worth without love? 
Wilt let love go? 

A bee that seeks the rose in flower ! 
And life is love, and love an hour 
Of Heaven, below! 



Allegfory* 61 



ALLEGORY. 

A lonely sea, my soul! 
Land-locked 'mid mountains high: 
Abysmal depths that roll 
O'er gold and pearl — the sky 
Far, clear above : a voice 
When the waves plunge; but deep. 
Silent, serene as sleep! 
A lonely sea, my soul ! 

Thy love, a torrent bright, 
A glittering, rainbow stream, 
Down the white rocks takes flight ; 
With pearly foam, and gleam. 
Falls to the silent wave 
That breaks in diamond light. 
From out the winter night — 
[The lonely sea, my soul! 



62 Helen. 



HELEN. 

Across white seas, with storm and sweep of 

sails, 
Men bore me, from flowery Ionian vales, 
To towered Troy; and my great beauty fell 
Like sunlight, dazzling, blinding, o'er their eyes. 
In my youth, honey-sweet! Most beautiful, 
Most hapless I ! for now the clash of spears. 
The hollow, brazen echoes of wild war 
Roll o'er the plains, and stately walls of Troy! 
The Gods take part in the hot struggle! men 
And heroes perish, for my beauty's blight! 
And like the shrieking of storm driv'n sea-birds. 
Far, warning voices clamor over Troy! 
Hear thou, O Goddess who did'st make me prize 
To golden Paris, never let me see 



Helen. 63 

Again him whose unsullied hearth I left 
To desolation : nor the faces loved 
Of that fair, noble kindred I have lost, 
Whate'er betide my beauty and my woe! 



64i Songf. 



SONG. 

Come up from the red east, O sun. 

With the wild wind of dawn! 

Thy wondrous steeds awake and gfuide. 

In rosy steps of Morn ! 

The fields are decked thy glance to meet. 

With flowers sweet. 

Spread forth thy blushing light o'er all 

The spangled, orient sky! 

While faint and fail the golden lights 

Made heaven clear, on high. 

The world wakes ; far each shadow steals 

From thy bright wheels ! 



Magic 65 



MAGIC. 

Bright streams her lighted casement on the night, 
Through dewy boughs — beneath her garden Hes, 
Of rose, and hly bright, and starry eyes. 
Fair flowers of hght! and here the moss-grown 

wall, 
A-stir with quivering leaves ! and at my call. 
Stone, mortar, hasp, circle of angry friends 
With wisdom of the world — "Begin ! where ends 
This madness? will you list this song of roads? 
Nor think what love of the wild bird forebodes?" 
I think all these should not keep her ! but know, 
This very night, if I would have it so, 
I might take her for life eternal ! all ! 
Soul, brow, still eyes, and heart — if I would call ! 



66 "Wild Roses Cradle Soft the Golden Bees. 



WILD ROSES CRADLE SOFT THE 
GOLDEN BEES. 

Wild roses cradle soft the golden bees, 
Or daisies, silver cups of dew, or blooms, 
Bright blossoms of the fragrant orchard trees. 
Or lily, where in perfumed, starry glooms. 
The imprisoned wings, streaked with gold, may 
gleam. 

For orient pearls, and rosy, secret bowers. 
Murmur the banded lutanists, with sound 
As of soft rain on grass and joyous flowers! 
Of whispering winds, or dreaming seas pro- 
found. 
Or falling fountains, in a crystal stream! 



The Last Conqwerof. 6") 



THE LAST CONQUEROR. 

All my life long, I knew I must confront 
Him — ^but I never dreamed the hour so near! 
Beneath the golden sky, and orchard boughs 
Faint blossom flushed and musical with wings — 
When life, a stream, slipped down, a silver line, 
Past reed, and flag, and lily clear as air. 
Leaves crystalline, out, with a sudden foam. 
From the blue pebbles to the river's rush! 
The sea seen, far off, with its whitening sails, 
Its foam crests rushing in to flowery isles. 
Enchanted, on its breast. I never thought 
That, sudden, wild the trumpets would ring 

forth 1 
Would ope the empty, ringing lists! and In 
A misty dream, I should be set to meet — 
No paladin, or shining knight — ^but him 



68 The Last Conquctot, 

The horror of whose name the Hghtest shakes : 
The echoes of whose footfalls chill the heart — 
The Giant. Now, at last, 'tis to be done ! 
No fainting! no wild outcry — if you will 
Clutch one gold bough to bear away — but turn! 
For he waits not for seeking: he is here! 
Here — and the sky is gone, and earth is lost, 
And the fierce trumpet blasts, and shrieks the 

wind. 
And all his mighty coming through the earth 
Resounds — his great arm rears — now, struggle 

up! 
Now, Tancred, pay the earth for all the bliss 
Hoarded and spent on thee : the battle comes ! 
Hold fast — and meet him — and be overthrown! 



Songs of the Forest. 69 



SONGS OF THE FOREST. 

I. 

Fair star that bring-'st the quiet eve, 
Soft ere the rising moon stream bright! 
Earth waits thy beam, star of hushed breeze, 
And balm, of pensive, shadowy light! 
Come, planet clear of closing day, 
Star of the homeward way! 

Thou dost all gentle pleasures bring. 

Star of soft peace : home to its nest 

The wild bird; from sweet fields the bee: 

Dost lead the weary heart to rest. 

On youthful passion shin'st above. 

Thou silvery star of Love ! 



70 Songfs of the Forest. 

II. 

Now all the budded woods are green. 
And the deep, windy east flames bright, 
And buds in mossy ways are seen, 
Bright leaves, and lily cups of light ! 
Pearled wind-flowers 'mid the grass are set, 
'Neath white boughs springs the violet. 

Now flowers every sunny lea, 

And wild notes greet the dawning blue, 

From dewy sod and bright fruit-tree; 

And blossoms trembling joy anew, 

With azure leaf and balmy breath 

It starts from sleep, and the year's death. 

III. 

Lo ! the light shoots in the east ! 
And the dawn breaks cold and clear: 
O'er the misty, sparkling hills 
The sun's blushing beams appear. 



Absence. 7 J 



ABSENCE. 

Beneath thine eyes my happy eyelids fall, 
Nor can I take thy close, sweet kiss, nor call 
Thee "Dear Beloved !" nor say "I love thee," 
In the heart-voice like the bird's melody ; 
When thou art near, and thy sunlight's above 
My shadow — dew on my flow'rs — leave me, 

Love! 
As the leaves tremble when the bird has flown, 
So my heart pulses when I am alone 
To live o'er, in sweet thought, thy last embrace, 
And dwell, in memory, upon thy face. 



72 The Question. 



THE QUESTION. 

When ladies bright shall tempt thee with their 

smiles, 
Their silver brows, sweet speech, and lovely 

wiles. 
Wilt thou muse : "Dearer far to me her look 
When she is silent : as a running brook 
In mossy ways, her still voice: and her eyes 
Downcast, and blush, and virgin fear, I prize 
More than rose-lips, or glance of sunny eyes ?" 



May. 73 



MAY. 

Grass-green and flashing blue of May, 

With leafage, rose-bloom, ferny spray : 

A bower safe to meet together, 

Thick, green and flow'r flushed by the weather; 

Sunshine that, splendid, floats above 

The budding flowers — thy smile, Love! 



74 Song iot Mttsic. 



SONG FOR MUSIC. 

Come to me in my dreams! 

Ah Love! the day is long 

That with sweet buds, perfume, and the wren's 

song, 
Dawns glimmering at the lattice! sinks to rest 
Dim, silent, starry, in the rosy west! 
Come to me in my dreams! 

Come to me in my dreams! 

I may not love thee! fear 

To meet thine eyes as in a mirror clear, 

In faery thought — but longing grows to pain 

To touch thy treasured hand ! greet thee again ! 

Come to me In my dreams! 



Songf for Music, 75 

But come to me in dreams ! 

With memory of all sweet 

And silent places haunted by our feet, 

With dewy splendor of those morning skies, 

With the delight of meeting lips and ej'-es : 

Sweet ! come to me in dreams ! 



76 A Thought. 



A THOUGHT. 

Flow'rs, music are the slaves of Memory: 
And with a scent, a tone, they will set free 
Thoughts, too swift for slow speech, that like a 

flower 
Fall at a touch ! from rose-crown of the Hour ! 



Ofphcus and Eistydicc* 77 



ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE. 

First he who by such fearful, unknown ways 
Had come to that drear place of shades, of woe. 
Of lapping waters faintly heard, as in 
The night beside a lonely sea, strained 'gainst 
The gloom his longing eyes that saw faint shapes. 
The drooping head of Proserpine where clung 
One vernal bud, with honied, radiant cup, 
And Furies, by their pallid torches' shine, 
Shaking upon black night their horrent hair — 
But nowhere those beloved eyes he sought ! 
So, mourning, struck the trembling harp-strings : 

soft 
The harp notes sighed with his unyielding sor- 
row! 
But sorrow woke a mighty, echoing voice 



78 Orpheas and Eutydicc. 

That with the melancholy chords o£ earth 
Resounded ; and the singer paused aghast, 
With fainting heart. Then soft and low, he 

played 
A melody as waters whispering 'mid 
The standing sedges in a pool, and sang — 
With pauses sweet! of distant earth, of homes, 
And hearth-fires, and the fields of happy men, 
The swallow in the eaves, the spongy meads 
Eyed with sweet blooms, and blowing winds of 

spring, 
Of golden harvests, and sweet slumber lulled 
By murmuring bees, and winds, and shepherd's 

pipe. 
And all the happy music of the vales, 
Of simple life, and joys inherited, 
And humble beauty 'neath the evening star. 
So sang he; and a silence fell on all! 
On those who wailed, and on the fearful shapes 
Of woe and horror: and the breathing dawn, 
With pipe of birds, and rustling of green leaves, 



Orphetts anc^ Earydice. 79 

Sweet scents from white fields blown, and amber 

skies, 
Shone in that desolate place. Slow-stealing tears 
Fell from the anguished eyes, and pallid lips 
Smiled as the tears fell : then with bated breath, 
He made a murmur sweet that was one name ! 
Hope, life, death, anguish, fear and ecstasy! 
A cry that pierced high Heaven, and sank to 

Hell— 
''Eurydice ! Eurydice !" again, 
And ever the lament — "Eurydice!" 
Till Love took that name, and re-echoed it, 
Through all the woes of Hell, "Eurydice !" 
So ended. Soft, with mild looks bent on him, 
Spoke the dark Lord of Hell, "Thou who 

bringest 
Hope here where rules Despair ! and Love where 

Fear 
And Vengeance ride the blast! thou who didst 

bend 
Thy painful footsteps, from the happy earth. 



80 Orphews and Eurydice. 

To misty fields, and ice-bound, desolate waste 
Untrod by living foot — hast conquered death 
And the dark grave through love. Return thou 

to 
The fields of day ; and thy beloved one 
Shall follow — only look not back at her! 
Content thee with the sound of her light feet 
Echoing thine; for if thou dost look, wilt 
Lose her forever from thine arms ! begone ! 
Lo, thou hast wrung love from the iron breast 
Of Pluto — but the ancient Night resumes 
Her dreaded sway." Ended the God, and rose 
A fearful wail from all the vales of Hell : 
From barren, frozen cliffs, and fiery pool; 
And the dread wastes, haunted by drifting 

shapes ! 
Then Orpheus turned and, singing, went his way 
Back to the gates of Hfe; for thought he^ — "If 
I pour my heart's great longing into song — 
And listen not to those soft footfalls ! I 
May gain the light ; and turn not round to clasp 



Orpheus and Ewrydice. Zi 

Her whom I kissed within her shroud, in one 
Long, passionate embrace — then let the sky 
And earth crash in together !" So he went. 
Hearing, in anguish, her Hght footfalls, near; 
Her sighs heaving her bosom with desire 
And tender longing — ^nay, at times almost 
Halting, hushed, hopeful, for her arms to close 
About his head, with kisses wild and sweet, 
And sad — as men embrace the fancied dead 
Who rouse to life from three days' trance, and 

look, 
With alien eyes, on the affairs of life. 
So sang he : but it chanced that to his lips 
There rose a little song that he had made 
Beneath the glimmering rose of the bright eve 
When the veiled bride was brought home to his 

doors. 
With chants and wreaths and dazzling chariot 

wheels ; 
And this he sang, unthinking, with full heart! 
Yet smitten with a sudden fear if this 



82 Oi'phetts and Eufydicc 

Were his fair wife, or a thin, aching shade 
That followed, light? dear either way! but 

longed 
He utterly for her loved eyes and lips, 
And tender voice : and he sang, he heard 
A passionate sigh that, dying, breathed his name ; 
And knew her near him ! Pierced with the faint 

sound 
Of her remembered tones, and with the thought 
She sorrowed to have come so far without 
Sign of his love, he yielded ! Joyful, awed, 
Thrilled with divine love, he turned back, and 

looked 
With blissful tears at his Eurydice ! 
And leapt a cry, and stretched their longing 

arms 
In fond joy : but ere they had looked their fill. 
Or kissed, back sank the lovely shade in night ! 
The gentle gift was caught back to the Gods! 
No more to earth returned Eurydice ! 



A Dream. 83 



A DREAM. 

I had a dream of roses, and of buds 

Of April, honey-sweet, of hyacinth, 

Of trembling bells, of lilies in whose plintH 

The bee hides, pastoral daisies, field stars sweet ! 

O'er which hover clear dews, and gold wings 

fleet ! 
A dream of meadows fair as Paradise ! 
Windless, and blossoming with flowery eyes J 



84 Blfd-FUght. 



BIRD-FLIGHT. 

First fled tHe swallow, Youth, that wings away 
With budding rose, and halcyon hours of May: 
Then Love, the enamored nightingale that sings, 
In myrtle bower enchanted: then fleet wings, 
A sky of daffodil, and Hope had flown: 
Last, chanting, the swan. Memory, had gone, 
Drifting down silent waters to the sea 
That rises and ends in a mystery! 



Singling. S5 



SINGING. 

My song, be like the violet 

That trembles bright 
Upon a nodding bank exhales 

Its perfume light! 

My song, be like the star that gleams 

In deepest blue, 
'Neath which the faint rose, odorous, glows 

In radiant hue! 

My song, be like the mourning bird, 

That with ita love 
O'erflows lush boughs, with couplets soft 

As voice of dove! 



86 G>nfession Before Death. 



CONFESSION BEFORE DEATH. 

That night of the Duke's solemn feast, we met, 
Unseen. She paused — I heard her murmur low 
My name. "O lady, what will ye of him 
Whose very heart beats in your service?" Mute, 
Beneath her glittering veil, she stayed a pause 
Sweeter in tremulous silence than the voice 
Of Music! then she spoke — "Here is a world 
Of men and women — ^not one knows of that 
Great, golden chalice, sacred passion that 
Our lips desire! lo, standest there — not thou 
But Love! Love, radiant, blinding! Kneelest 

thou? 
Must I speak further? lips utter the tale 
My heart hath beaten at thy slightest glance, 
The lightest, lingering touch of thy hand ? Rise 
Thou — ^take me! here is anguish, here despair! 
But here is life immortal — deathless love!" 



The Shepherd. 87 



THE SHEPHERD. 

I. 

LAST NIGHT. 

Last night, I heard the nightingale! 
It waked me from a dream; 
From leafy bow'rs rang its sweet wail, 
'Neath the moon's amber beam, 
Last night, I heard the nightingale! 

Last night, I heard the nightingale ! 
I woke and wept for love ; 
It mourned amid the blossoms pale; 
White stars looked from above; 
Last night, I heard the nightingale ! 



88 The Shepherd. 

II. 

SUNSET. 

The sun goes down, far in the west, 
And leaves woodland and vale to rest: 
Thou weary heart, what tears are thine? 
'Mid glittering mists, and the clouds' shine, 
The sun goes down! 

III. 

NYMPHS AND SWAINS. 

By the streams, in meadows fair. 
Did I meet my love a-playing! 
In the spring, when lovers young 
'Mid the green wheat fields were straying! 
Pipe, sweet shepherd! life's a pearl 
Trembles for a lovely hour 
On the leaves of summer's flower- 
Vanishes then, us betraying! 
While our hearts with Love are maying! 



The Hcsperfdes. 89 



THE HESPERIDES. 

Tliick-foliaged, with a sunlight silvered bole, 
Deep with winged, tremulous leaves, bright 

with clear dews. 
And musical with songs of the soft breeze, 
Aflame with glowing buds, and blooms, and 

fruit 
Sparkling in green glooms, lifting boughs a-sheen 
Beneath the sky of dawn, and rosy light, 
The magic tree stood, circled by the fair 
Hesperides. Leaf-shade and blossom touched 
Their white limbs, shone upon a gleaming arm 
And thick folds of gold hair : above them soared 
The dazzling dragon-head from its bright coils, 
Crowned with pale fire of silver light o'er all 
The jewels of its shining wreath : and sweet, 
From out the clustering bud and blossom, came 



90 The Hespetides. 

Their voices faint drifting with fragrant winds, 
Seaward; as under star, and leaf, and fruit 
Golden upon the bough, they guarded safe 
The magic tree, from root to bowery head. 



She Bears a Jewel on Hef Bteast* 9i 



SHE BEARS A JEWEL ON HER BREAST. 

She bears a jewel, on her breast, 
Not clearer than her eyes! a light 
Still, emerald! a splendor bright, 
A lustre strange! In her calm face 
There lives the memory of that place 
Where she dwelt long, in mystery, 
The misty radiance 'neath the sea, 
The dark joy of the mountains, chill 
And ice-crowned, the light of the still, 
Clear moon, and the wild song of death 
A lover sang, with failing breath! 



92 The Robin. 



THE ROBIN. 

Voice of the dawn, minstrel of vernal days, 
Pitiful spirit of old, plain romance, 
Thou cheerful gossip of the beechen ways, 
Love-Iutanist, whose sylvan notes enhance 
Delights of May! among the gusty trees, 
Thy blithe cries utter! echoed from each glade 
That flings a warm perfume to the soft breeze: 
Wing, fluting through the golden lights and 
shade 1 

Silent, dost bob and dance, on orchard lawn, 
In rustic minuet! with golden bill, 
And shining eye, and happy grace. Each dawn 
Hears thy blithe calls from sylvan green and hill. 
Loved wast thou of old poesy, blest bird ! 
Spirit ol wood and field ! and that s\yeet art. 



The Robin. 93 

That finds fair thouglits in every flower, heard 
Thy friendly voice, and gave to thee a heart 
Of heavenly true love unto mortals, whence 
Flowed pity, woe, mysterious reverence! 



94 Night Song. 



NIGHT SONG. 

Silence, O fond bird, that from leafy bower, 
Star-hung and perfumed by the odorous breeze, 
Pourest thy sweet notes in a silver shower, 
A crystal rain of dropping melodies! 
The flow'rs awake beneath the sparkling cloud 
That earthward bends with fragrant, gentle dew, 
A shining mist above the green hills bowed 
Till morn, ascending, blushes in the blue. 

Soft, soft, ye airy voices ! wandering 

Mid moss-grawn paths, and folded bud and 

bloom. 
Beneath the golden whirl, the glittering ring 
Of sister stars ; in leafy secret gloom, 
A stream makes music, and winds answer light; 
And dreams the tremulous lily; and above 
Sings the enamoured spirit of the night 
That radiant, faint with blossoms, breathes of 

love ! 



Petdita. 95 



PERDITA. 

With faintest sunlights in thy hair 
Of gossamer gold, and still, blue eyes, 
Thou comest when the moon is old, 
Abd thickest dark obscures the skies. 

Thou lookest on me, and thine eyes 
Are still and soft and dewy-clear: 
Thy footsteps echo, angel-wise, 
Upon my memory's shadowy stair. 

Until the Past awakes, and rings 
With sunken faery bells again: 
The fount of youth enchanted springs: 
And nightingales sing in my brain. 



96 Visions. 



VISIONS. 

From dreams of thee I wake, 

When night is o'er! 

With thoughts of thee I greet the light; 

And all the memories of the night, 

Like faint scents of pale violets dead, 

Like sweet notes when the music's fled. 

Hover about my waking hours; 

A fragrance from enchanted bowers! 

From thoughts of thee I turn. 
When day is o'er! 
Sleep brings a vision to my eyes, 
And stirs my beating heart with sighs ; 
Till love and life and all delight, 
Like an embowered rose, in night 
Are lost : joy wings : and all things die 
Save only thee and memory! 



Phosphor, Hesper. 97 



PHOSPHOR, HESPER. 

O Morning star, that sparkiest in dawn's blue 

Above the beds of violets and dew. 

With soft delight my love's sweet breath renew. 

O Evening star, that where the west is bright 
With rose lights, hangest, harbinger of night, 
Pilot her sleep from dark to dewy light. 



9^ Persephone in Hades. 



PERSEPHONE IN HADES. 

Drooping upon her throne, Persephone 

Eyed with dim looks the brooding darkness 

near; 
And heard the river eddies rippling led 
To misty banks of amaranth and pale 
Lilies of faint Elysium; and her heart 
Passioned for meads of Enna, flower-sweet! 
Young buds, and dewy flowers, and the dome 
Of the blue skies, the faint star of the morn, 
Clear drops of dew, the song of soaring birds 
In the white dawn, and odor-breathing winds : 
Dreaming, she listened for voices of nymphs, 
In pleasant vales, and river lawns. Beside 
Her, leaned dark Pluto, and his trembling words, 
Whispered her close and sweet, were all un- 
heard ; 



Persephone in Hades. 99 

With promise of fair flowers as she lost 
'Neath kinder skies — rose leaf and daffodil! 
Of all the splendors of the halcyon earth — 
So she would lift her fainting head ! and 'neath 
His kiss, the last flower clinging to her locks — 
Sole coronal of lorn Persephone! 
Fell, with a shower of loose, odorous leaves ! 



iLofC. 



too Dreams. 



DREAMS. 

I. 

One lonely bird that sings the rose, 

A heaven of stars, a bee-like throng*, 

A breeze that o'er the lilies blows 

And wakes them with its swaying long'—* 

Is it dawn? or a vision of the night? 

I cannot see for orchard blossoms bright 

Fluttering before mine eyes ! Heart, is it dawn ? 

IL 

Let me dream . 

Is it true I may search the world, nor find — 

Wake, hopeful, with blue skies of dawn, grope, 

blind, 

At night — her that stood here but yesterday? 

Let me dream I 



Dreams* tOi 

Let me dream ! 

I may find, say you? turf with daisies white — 
Nay, but she glides in to me with the night ; 
And with the birth of dawn she steals away — 
Let me dream! 

IIL 

Green branch that thrusts its buds against the 

blue 
Roof o'er us ; moss banks violet wove, anew, 
By spring; thy vesture all of flowers; day 
Astir in the dim tracks and greenwood way : 

The forest creatures near — the world afar! 
Rich purple — silken silence — and a star 
In heavens blue, Love o'er us ! Men are gone ? 
Look down, my soul! through life and death, 
look on! 



i02 Jacob at Peniel* 



JACOB AT PENIEL. 

When night climbed the dim sky, he crossed the 

ford 
That eddying, sparkling, lay 'tween bank and 

bank ; 
And stood beneath dim cedar boughs and shades 
Of myrrhy thickets. O'er the dark earth hung 
One white star, 'mid thin mists: a sudden 

breeze 
Went, breathing fragrance, through the gloom. 

Sounded 
A rushing wind of winnowing wings, and lo ! 
As in the dreadful glory, turned the seer, 
A glittering form stood in his way : and by 
The river-ford, they wrestled through the night 
Till paled the eastern star. Rock, tree, and sky 



Jacob at Pemel. 103 

Swam in their eyes, with beating blood, and 

white 
The silent skies stood over them! Their limbs 
Locked in their struggle, till the sinews vast 
Were knotted, and veins started: their long 

locks 
Clung mingled : and the earth slipped from their 

feet: 
And rent the stranger's robes that smelt of 

myrrh. 
Were whiter than field-lilies ! As he strove, 
Did Jacob see the wrestler's countenance, 
Dazzling, above him; and his starry dreams. 
And skyey visions shone before his eyes. 
While chilly fear urged him to loose his grasp 
From the unearthly ; but his manhood rose 
In riot of hot blood ! So all the night 
They wrestled by the ford: when the clear 

dawn 
Streaked the blue east, the stranger spoke and 

said, 



J 04 Jacob at Pcnicl. 

"Thou hast prevailed, O mighty heart: loose 

me: 
For the dawn comes." Yet Israel crie3, 
Amid the weariness and grief of strife, 
"Thy blessing, Lord !" and o'er his bowed head 

lay 
The haven of vast wings ; and on his soul. 



May and Love* i05 



MAY AND LOVE. 

In spring, with breath of violets, 
My hopes bright blossomed, in mild air, 
'Neath rosy cloud, and fragrant dew, 
Soft sky, and sunny radiance fair! 

Now blow the winds through dreamy woods. 
And dim the cloudy, sunless sky; 
And with the withered leaves of spring 
My hopes drift from the bough to die ! 



t06 Pandora* 



PANDORA. 

With fearful wonder, raises she the lid, 
And through the sunny air, o'er her curled Head 
With violet and crocus garlanded. 
As light as mazy rings of butterflies 
The gifts and blessings to mankind flutter 
On rosy, quivering wings; and vanish, bright, 
Above the reach of empty, longing hands ! 
But on the fairest shuts the prisoning lid, 
As with divine regret, and Koly fear. 
Pandora gains for earth the struggling hope! 
To work with hope — sweet task! golden con- 
tent! 
But, kindly Gods, no gift gave ye to those 
Who, hopeless, toil! Then grant them, O Im- 
mortals, 



Pandora. J 07 

Your dauntless mind, and steadfast, heaven-bom 

courage, 
To live on the dark earth as ye live in 
Celestial, glittering halls of bright Olympus! 



JOS To-Moftow. 



TO-MORROW. 

Wilt thou bring to me what To-day denies, 

sweet To-morrow? sleep to weary eyes, 
And joy and hope? I give To-day a tear; 
But unto thee, To-morrow, thou more dear! 

1 lift the silent hope the blossoms know 
When o'er their bedded seeds moist spring winds 

blow; 
And the sod fed with bright dew trembles green, 
'Neath flame and blue of skyey deeps serene. 



Loves of the Gods. J 09 



LOVES OF THE GODS. 

I. 

Look from thy beaming sky, O Phoebus ! now 
While thy wild steeds advance, thy glorious 

brow 
Shines on the budding fields of earth. Hast 

seen 
'Mid all fond looks, of birds in bowers green, 
Flower face, and mortal eyes, this heart of light 
Enchanted! passionate, sun-like flower bright 
That, constant, turns to thee its shining head. 
Till all thy rosy, ebbing glow is fled; 
Up to thee spreading each bright, restless leaf, 
With virgin mind bending 'neath tender grief? 

O wanderer of the skies ! O singer sweet 
To festal harpings clear for flying feet, 



no Loves of the Gods. 

Of liquid chords, and lovely poesy 
Honey sweet, joyous sounds, and revelry: 
O Child of Heaven! beautiful and wise 
With occult knowledge! Harkener of sighs 
Of souls foreboding! Lord, thy heavenly art 
Once more, hath drawn to thee a virgin heart ! 
Look down, gold-quivered son of supreme Jove, 
To the dark earth, where shines a humble love. 

IL 

In yellow skies fair Hesper heralds night, 

O'er valleys low raining his lovely light, 

On fields, clear streams, arbors, and thickets 

wild 
Eyed with the sweetest flowers. With radiance 

mild 
Bright Phoebe rises. Her pale crescent gleams 
O'er the dim forest old — pensive, she dreams 
Its shadow that of Latmos; and its deeps 
The forest brakes where her Endymion sleeps, 
'Mid store of lilies, ever fair and young! 
To rest by feathered, warbling choirs sungi 



Songs. tit 



SONGS. 
I, 

Tears I weep that none may; know! 
At the mountains gaze I ever, 
At the heights where lies the snow. 
Where my wandering feet roam never: 
Clouds glide, and the bird flies there,. 
Radiant sunsets hover fair! 
Longing, gaze I from below. 
Tears I weep that none may know! 
Tears I weep! 

ir. 

My heart was like the sun. 

When dreamed I that you loved met 

My heart was like the sun, 



JJ2 Songs. 

Glittering, golden, streaming radiance o'er 
The trembling buds, sweet leaves folded be- 
fore — 
My heart was like the sun! 

* * * ilt * 

My heart is like the sun. 

Now you have ceased to love me ! 

My heart is like the sun 

When, slow and fair, he sinks down from a sky 

Whence all the glories, and wild radiance die — 

My heart is like the sun! 

III. 

A cottage, small and fair, she has; 

And over it I see 

One serene star! white lihes silently 

Shine in its light: a magic splendor gkams 

In each pale calyx, glimmering in her dreams. 

IV. 
Turn back, O heart; from icy peak and height, 
From misty torrent, waters glittering bright. 
Unto thy native land! 



Songs. its 

There springs the violet, in bourgeoning vale, 
And white flocks move, and gentle winds pre- 
vail. 
Within thy native land! 

V. 

In a dream, I saw a maiden 

By a fountain bright 

That flowed, sparkling, 'neath boughs laden, 

Magic leaves, milk-white : 

Pale her cheek, her eyes were wild! 

Yet on me, she gazed and smiled! 

In a dream. 

In a dream, I heard her sing 
Songs enchanting sweet! 
Combed she her locks, glittering 
Down to her light feet : 
Fairy of the fountain, she ! 
And she lured my soul from me! 
In a dream. 



n4 Songfs* 

VI. 

My little songs, return to me! 

WitK doves' wings fluttering on my heart! 

Too long, I pine and sigh apart! 

With faint notes of a fairy song, 

Forgotten, rising clearer — throng. 

On shining pinions, hither: tears 

Well from my heart oppressed with fears: 

My little songs, return! 

VII. 

O nightingale! O nightingale! 
Deep in the dim woods dost thou sing; 
And streams of lucid melody 
Up from thy sad breast spring! 

O nightingale ! sweet nightingale ! 
In leafy covert dost thou mourn. 
Till fade the star-flowers from the skies. 
Before the crystal dawn! 



Songs. its 

VIII. 

Love sings among the roses! 

The silent moon above. 

The quiet flowers listen, 

A'nd dream and breathe of love: 

Love sings among the roses ! 

Love sings among the roses! 
No rustle stirs the fields 
Fragrant with radiant blossoms ! 
My breast to deep joy yields! 
Love sings among the roses! 

IX. 

In the clear water at your feet. 
There lies an image sweet! 
Some lovely water-nymph for thee 
Has left her pearls and foam of sea! 

[Here, at your feet, she weeps and sighs; 
White garlands blind her eyes: 



tiS Songs* 

I draw you back — and she has fled ! 

The wave flows clear o'er the stream's bed! 



Day fades away, as sweet exhaleth 
The fragrance of the rose! 
The nightingale begins its song, 
Through douds a clear star glows: 

And silent all the radiant day, 
My song, with fresh delight, 
Echoes the nightingale; and blooms 
With the rose dewy-bright! 

XL 

What sings the wondrous maiden? 

Soft flows the crystal Rhine! 

Her locks with lilies laden; 

Her beauty half divine! 

The gleaming harp, upon her breast, 

Soft trembles in its lovely rest ! 



Songs. ttl 



What dreams are on me glowing? 
My heart beats loud and fast! 
Wild melody is flowing 
From her lips! O at last, 
Let life and golden day go by— 
I sink upon her breast to die ! 



US Flight of Poesy. 



FLIGHT OF POESY. 

Thou dost evade my love: upon the air 

The rose-leaves blown back from thy glittering 

hair 
Show me the way did'st pass: when thou art 

gone, 
Unwatched by me, uprises the clear dawn! 
Joy flies, and Fancy pales, and Memory 
Vibrates with tones I love, silent for me! 

My idle harp falls from my hand: still sing 
Its murmurous chords struck by thy rainbow 

wing: 
And I may find thee in the depth of June, 
With blossomed leas and blackbird's silver tune; 
Where thou dost watch, all day, the running 

brook 
Sungilt o'er pebbles blue, in leafy nook. 



Elfin-Town. U9 



ELFIN-TOWN. 

Faint, elfin horns that herald magic day; 

A rosy dawn above a forest wild 

Dream haunted by the memory of a child; 

Rose lattices, white-glancing, aery towers 

Of wings of butterflies and silver showers; 

Walled gardens, blossom-flushed, fruit hung, 

with trees 
That spring to sound of faery melodies; 
Great flowers that glow and shine, a jewel bright 
In each heart, violet banks, and moth wings light ; 
Birds on the glistening boughs ; a flying mist 
Of rainbow gold, and green and amethyst, 
Like great wings, flashing o'er, of painted birds ; 
Moonbeams, bee songs, strange trees, and magic 

words ; 
Soft tones that love, and yearn afar, and weep, 
Witli rippling, faery seas, and winds asleep! 



120 Bridal Song. 



BRIDAL SONG. 

Pluck daffodil, lily and violet blue, 
The pure rose brimming with the rain and dew ! 
All vermeil buds and flowery sweets adorn 
Love's high festivity and happy mom ! 

Sing, pretty choirs, that in each hedgerow green 
And fair branch gemmed with budding white, 

are seen ! 
Thrush, linnet, blackbird pipe, in bushes gay, 
To welcome in the blushing bridal day I 

Rise, Phoebus, from the mist and spangled blue 
Of dawn! ascend the crystal heavens anew! 
Haste, rosy Hours ! and weave a garland bright 
With young Loves on the dial of their delight ! 



Oeopatra. 12) 



CLEOPATRA. 
I. 

CHANT FOR THE TEMPLE OF THE GODS, 

O holy powers that sway our lives ! 

O mysteries! 

Thou, Isis, veiled from mortal eyes: 

Osiris, to whom from blue skies 

The soul descends — great deities! 

Before ye the heart trembles; and life hears 

The sullen wash of seas across the years 

That hedge us from eternity. 

Not ye will passionate chant, or g^ms. 

Sweet perfumes rare, 

Or virgin beauty rosy glancing 

From glittering veils, in dance advancing. 

Propitiate, as offering fair! 



122 Cleopatra. 

But humble hearts and lives divinely led, 
Star-like, shall light our way among the dead. 
Unto your throne-foot, deities ! 

II. 

SONG. 

Faint scents like dreams, and perfumes sweet 
That with winds from dim islands beat, 
Fragrant on glittering seas, with white 
Lotus half-opened on the night. 
Waft with her sails silken, gold-bright! 

Music attends her, and the sea, 
Beneath her oars, glides silently. 
And perfumed winds her white veils lift 
That to her jeweled ankles drift — 
Beauty, star-like, shines through the rift! 

III. 

Antony's song. 
Men gaze unto the East for dawn! and there. 
Where one dim, slender palm rears, branching, 
fair, 



Cleopatfa* i23 

And burning skies glow o'er the milk-white 

sands. 
My trembling heart returns from other lands — 
Unto the East I look, and long for thee ! 

Heart, there is magic in the East! a charm 
Of strange herbs, flowering trees, and fragrant 

balm 
Of lilies where the serpent coils — and there, 
On the great Nile, a Lotus blossoms fair! 
And from the East, the East ! it shines on me ! 



124 Phantom. 



PHANTOM. 

Beneath the white moon silvering the branch 
Of the wild ros€-tree where a bird still sings ; 
Where odors rise from flushing blooms that 

blanch 
In the pale beams; and the breeze, with light 

wings. 
Hovers o'er blossom'd banks; her ghost will 

walk, 
A faint mist 'gainst the splendor. Lovers met 
In the white May, will pause from gentle talk. 
Feeling dim sorrow, or the violet 
Sweeter in fragrance — ^that hour she is near; 
Returning to the bowers of the year. 



Jacob's Dream. 125 



JACOB'S DREAM. 

On the wide plain, beneath the vault of heaven 
Flashing with stars, he slept; where three dim 

palms 
Reared soft, o'er the white sands, against the 

sky. 
The winds were hushed; and every leaf was 

still ; 
And crouched the lion in the river's bed. 
The silver water-course parched by the drought, 
Amid its whispering reeds and water-plants, 
And small, eyed flowers blue as skies above : 
And lo! across the glittering march of stars. 
The serried ranks of planets burning red. 
Clear globes, and gleaming moons, and golden 

lights, 
A glorious vision dawned! The heavens oped. 



J 26 Jacob's Diream. 

And slid an amber cloud from sky to earth, 
With silent love and benedictions bowed; 
And down its misty way descending soft, 
Came white-winged angels, harnessed Cherubim, 
Hosts, principalities, and heavenly powers, 
Descending and ascending, with bright gifts, 
With starry flowers, and heaven's dewy fruit, 
And palm, and living waters, to the earth 
From heaven, and from earth to the bright 

skies. 
Beautiful shapes, with radiant brows ! and o'er 
The flying mist, a solemn harmony 
Of lutes and viols and angelic voice 
Built ever that bright link from heaven to earth 
Hushed, dream-like, 'neath the blessing of the 

Lord! 



Sappho* 127 



SAPPHO. 

Whene'er I take my lyre in hand to sing, 
Before me all those shining ones, my peers. 
Crowd my dark roof with splendors. "Low the 

string ! 
What matchless music hast thou for our ears?" 
They seem to ask who wear on perfect brows 
The laurel of immortal song still clear 
Across long Time: nay, but delicious vows. 
First, trembling words of love ye well may hear, 
Great Ones! triumphant rings the lesser voice; 
Love pours the notes, bids fiery strings rejoice! 



J28 Woman's Love. 



y 



WOMAN'S LOVE. 
I. 



As girls will often slip into the breast 
Blue violets that, dewy-scented, prest 
Above the heart make maytime of the day; 
So I will bear those lines you wrote that say 
"I love thee" — let their silver tones unite 
With my heart's singing like a bird, at night. 

IL 

Dearest, I love thee so that fain am I, 
Now I have given to thee my stiller hours, 
To look thence to May-blooms, a bluer sky, 
And pull my childhood hack, with its puj^ 

flowers 
Held in innocent hands, and give it thee 
Who henceforth canst ask all my life of me. 



Woman's Love. 129 



III. 



What canst thou ask of me I will not give? 
A tress, soft severed from its azure band, 
The rose I wore, lips where thy name doth live 
In sanctuary of dreams, my thoughts, my hand. 
The pearl-string of my joys — stars of the mor- 
row. 
And here — Beloved, I give all! my sorrow! 



130 Mdodv. 



MELODY. 

Once more, that melody of sighing strings! 
And to its mournful music lend your aid. 
Soft voices! so, on my beloved's breast 
My weary head may sink to gentle rest; 
And the dim anguish that my sad heart wrings 
Be stilled; and every haunting mem'ry fade! 
Peace with its tender music lingereth ! 
O let me listen, and dream on to death ! 



Pipes and Dancers* iZt 



PIPES AND DANCERS. 

But if men will not look upon them ! see, 
With my delight, my treasures spread them, 

here! 
White, tremulous buds that 'neath the tides of 

sea 
Wave, blue and amber gems of the East, clear. 
Bright Indian birds from vales of Paradise, 
Fruit rosy and in golden clusters, grown 
On cliffs and peaks of glittering isles ; their eyes 
Gaze not on, with bliss ! and when all is shown 
That filled my galley of the purple sail. 
They will not hear of the strange trees, and 

groves. 
The flashing blossoms, and the sunbright vale, 
O'erflowing with the melody of doves, 



132 Pipes and Dancers. 

To which I floated, on a misty stream, 
Where asphodels bloom: and if then I sing 
Filled with the magic music of a dream, 
They will not hear! nor wear fern seed! nor 

wing. 
With white sails, down clear seas! nor listen 

while 
Trees spring to Orpheus' lute! My brows are 

bright 
With jewels from the elfin land — ^but smile 
They ; and refuse my offering of delight ! 
They know no kingdom of a magic isle ! 



The Cfusadef. J 33 



THE CRUSADER. 

A speck upon the far, blue sky aglow 
With sultry heat ! here is the desert spring, 
'Neath the date tree ! the fountain bubbling clear, 
Cool, crystal, sparkling from the white rock, o'er 
The drifting sand. Here is the pleasant spot 
They told me of where I may rest, the nook 
With fine grass, fl©wers, and palm trees, o'er- 

liead, 
Breaking the sky's fierce sapphire! Fairy trees 
And dream-like vision of a covert green, 
Still, cool, and peaceful, it appears to eyes 
Dimmed by the blaze of sunlight ! I will loose 
Bridle, drink, stretch my limbs beneath the 

shade 
That lets a thin, gold stream flicker upon 
My hauberk, purple scarf, and jeweled hilt; 
And list to that sweet bird above my head. 



J 34 The Crwsadef. 

My journe3angs are near at end, I trust, 
If all they told me be true — simple folk 
Who set me on my way here, from the hills 
Low 'gainst the great moon. I shall see God's 

town! 
I, all unworthy! O sweet saints, how oft 
Upon the wide plain's verge a vision hung, 
An aery, mimic city of the East, 
White towered, ranged with splendid palace 

•walls, 
With cloudy arch, and dome a lily clear, 
Or hovering, dove-like, 'gainst the rosy skies, 
The ghostly town of my hopes ! Shall I see, 
Kneel, touch, kiss holy dust? I trust 'tis so. 
I have striv'n , hungered, suffered from the 

beasts. 
Fought with men, beast-like, robbers; wounded, 

fall'n 
Beside the way; and I have done Thy will, 
O Christ! though haply not among the chaste 
Have I been numbered, who have loved my life 



The Cfusader. J 35 

O'er-much, have lived great feast days, kneeled 

to one 
Gold idol, mistress of my heart, flower-sweet — • 
But not of Thine ! Idle, at best, I lived, 
Stringing my verse, a milk-white pearl on pearl 
Upon the silken cord, or rosary 
Of honeysuckle glittering with dew, 
Which men commended — yet Thou knowest. 

Thou! 
Came but a trumpet blast — ^three words from 

Thee, 
At midnight, pealing awful through the cloud 
And sleeping town — and I have followed Thee! 
Doffed splendid silks for greaves and cuisses; 

cast 
Aside the playtime stylet for the brand: 
Laid the cross on this passionate heart; an'"^ 

shook 
The falcon. Pleasure, from the wrist to dart 
And disappear in blue skies ! lived pure ; 

wrought 



J 36 The Crtisaden 

For Thy sake; and shall fall, guarding Thy 

tomb! 
Shall die on holy earth, and be received 
Among Thy glorious choirs and martyr-saints ! 
For well I know that never any more 
Shall I stand in my garden, 'neath the fall 
Of peach flower; take my pleasure in warm 

May ; 
Sing to the angelot ; or pluck the rose 
New-budding; laugh and love in pleasant 

bowers, 
'Neath leaf and flower blinding Auria's eyes 
With strings of blossoming vine, fragrant with 

dew, 
A spray about her honey-colored locks ! 
No more look down upon the quiet town — • 
One star, the while, still, ckar, in the soft sky! 
I turn my gaze unto the East, the East ! 
Life's secret, and the meaning of this world ! 
God's blessing on my triumph; and the end! 



Song. 137 



SONG. 

From my exceeding sorrow spring my songs ! 
The wild swan his sweet notes, when death is 

nigh, 
Sends up from glittering waters to the sky. 
The while his white breast cleaves the rose 

flushed wave : 
The small bird sings her secret nest to save : 
The sweetest songs in pensive splendor spring! 
"When opes the soul its quivering, radiant wing ! 
From my exceeding sorrow spring my songs ! 

From my exceeding sorrow spring my songs ! 
Sorrow that hath as subtle, fainting breath. 
As fading lilies, bowing to their death ! 
Sorrow that makes an awful melody, 
Wild, manifold ! as worlds' death-hymns may be ! 



138 Song;* 

Of silver rain are made my hushed string's, 
Past days, a flower's perfume that haunts and 

clings ! 
From my exceeding sorrow spring my songs! 



Fatima. 139 



■ FATIMA. 

Within a blossomy jasmine bower, 
My love has made her bed! 
Where far and near and overhead 
Nightingales sing, and like a flower 
A rosy star swims, glitters bright 
Within the river light. 

On buds and balmy flowers she lies ; 
The warm and silent night, 
WitTi floating cloud and amber light, 
Has closed in fragrant sleep her eyes ! 
Nightingales sing, far, near, o'erhead. 
Where my love makes her bed ! 



140 Death. 



DEATH. 

Not unknown, unannounced, comest, O Death! 
That last day, when upon the shaking stair 
Thy foot will sou«d ; and with my latest breath, 
I shall arise, and falter, groping, where 
My friend will stand — and fall upon thy breast! 
Thou wilt strike silence through the fiendish 

rage 
Of hatred and of evil. I shall rest 
Who tire of all things I sky and sea ! shall wage 
No further battle — and I think that so, 
Within thine arms, thy healing kiss will ope 
My eyes ; and I shall see there, in a row, 
No angels I but the friends I lost, and hope 



Death. Hi 

Not to behold again — Roland, Conrad, 
And Balthazar — ay, I shall see them all ! 
Frank faces, helmed and glitt'ring brows, and 

glad, 
Blue eyes bent on me : and ere my lids fall, 
Her who died for me — Leonora, here! 
The closelier to my friend I shall feel prest — 
Then once more night, and tapers' flame, and 

drear 
Mutter of shriving priests — then, Heart, thy 

breast ! 



J 42 Oh Fountain! Sparkling Ever! 



OH FOUNTAIN! SPARKLING EVER! 

Oh f OLMitain ! sparkling ever ! leaping ! gleam- 
ing! 

Rising in silver streams, in crystal flow! 

Pale lilies cluster near your lucid streaming! 

Bright flash your waters under the sun's glow, 

Oh fountain ! sparkling ever ! leaping ! gleam- 
ingi 

Oh fountain ! rising e'er with melody, 

With gentle murmur, from the distant moun- 
tain! 

'Neath pea<rled drops spreads the green : th» 
golden bee 

Darts o'er your sparkling head: birds hymn 
you, fountain! 

Oh fountain ! rising e'er with melody ! 



Oh Fountain! Spatklingf Evef ! J 43 

Oh fountain! clear spring from mysterious 

deeps! 
Pure are your dazzling waters, murmuring ever ! 
Your glittering, rising stream, that never sleeps ! 
Immortal fount! your holy joy ends never! 
Oh fountain ! clear spring from mysterious 

deeps ! 



J 44 Psyche* 



PSYCHE. 

So lovely is the waking day, 

With buds, and blossoms, dew-drops of May ! 

So fair is love! and blissful the delight 

Of winds and waves and cloudless heavens 

bright 1 
Yet all suffice not the fond soul that wings 
Above the sweet content of earthly things: 
And higher still its rising hopes aspire, 
Like streaming stars that fill the heavens with 

fire. 



Ptometheus. 145 



PROMETHEUS. 
A Fragment. 

SONG OF THE HOURS. 

Ye rosy spirits ! flee away 
From rocky crag and fearful way, 
The mountain mist, and regions still! 
Below, the world, on plain and hill. 
Is blossoming, in springtide mirth! 
Celestial splendor fills the earth! 
Before the dawn, pales each star's light, 
The fair sun spreads his tresses bright; 
Haste, sisters, through the blushing sky. 
Through highest heaven — O pass by 
'The Once Beloved ! earth awaits 
Our coming from dawn's silver gates! 



146 Prometheus* 

First Spirit of the Air: 

O come ! and with thy pearly drops, thy dew 
Pure, dazzling, touch his burning brow ! refresh 
His weary limbs! 

Second Spirit of the 'Air: 

Our floating veils before 

The radiant sun we will draw — ^hover o'er 

His head that sinks beneath the quenchless fire. 

Third Spirit of the Air: 

With fragrance of the green earth, balmy breath 
Of roses, and the bowers that have now, 
Alas ! forgotten him ! I breathe on him. 

Fourth Spirit of the Air: 

Low, sweet and soft! with dreaming falls, and 

tones, 
Of passionate harps and heavenly harmony, 
With tender songs of men, and the first notes 
Of wakening birds, I kneel beside him. Sleep! 



L- Pfomethetis* J47 

O thou beloved, 'mid thy torture! rest, 

As on the patient earth's green breast ! Thy love 

Hath raised men from the earth to heaven : their 

souls 
Rejoice and bless thee! Rest, O suffering one! 
Beneath our gleaming wings spread o'er thy 

head ! 

Prometheus:-. 

Below in orient, dewy fields of earth, 
Men toil and sleep : above their misty dreams, 
The Gods, within their golden, gleaming halls. 
Smile o'er earth's valleys low — but these racked 

limbs, 
That may not find rest 'neath the springing 

grass. 
Or shut in brazen urn; with icy sleet, 
Keen frost, with snow, and beating storm, aad 

wind, 
Are fired through with fierce pain ! beneath the 

sun. 



J 48 Prometheus. 

Shrink, burning! shiver 'neath chill dews I O 

pain! 
Immortal anguish! and undying woe! 
And life immortal as breath of the God 
Who bound these m.ighty limbs, where light- 

enings play, 
And awful thunder rolls along the deep, 
Beneath the shivering stars! immortal pain! 

First Spirit of the Air: 
O hear! up from the deep, what voices rise? 

Second Spirit of the Air: 
The sea hushes its mighty sound — O hear! 

First Ocean Nymph: 

Up from the vast and misty depths, we rise ! 
From windless caverns 'neath the billow, paved 
With veined gold, and shell, and ocean pearl. 
Up, with our long locks crowned with white sea- 
flower. 
We rise! 



Prometheus. H9 

Second Ocean Nymph: 

With breath of spray, and dazzling light 
And ocean music, come we! 

Third Ocean Nymph: 

Wild sea-birds 

Before us dart! the crystal wava shines clear 
Beneath the radiant sun : our white limbs gleam 
Through its gold spangled light! From hidden 

caves 
Where bee nor bud nor tree is — from still bowers 
Beneath the foam, we rise! with music sweet 
Of voices soft and aery as the moan 
Of silver sounding shell, we come! Prome- 
theus ! 

Voice of the Earth: 

Within my dreams I stir ! I hear afar 

Aerial voices singing! tones divine! 

Yet heard I, trembling to my shuddering heart, 

An awful voice of anguish ! agony 



iSO Pfomethcus. 

Of him born of my fertile bosom, loved 
Of Earth, the Titan. O let me no more 
Those fearful murmurs hearken from the 

heights. 
The solitary mountains ! keener grows 
The ancient pain of Earth ! 

SONG OF SPIRITS. 

Clear moon, that gazest on the sleeping earth ! 
Fair visions seest of woods, crystal dews 
On new-sprung flowers, rivers, seas, and birth 
Of living, radiant fountains, faint mists whose 
White skirts thy keen rain pierces, isles of light, 
And dreaming beauty, 'mid the forests wild. 
Boughs laden with gold orbs, and blossoms 

bright 
Leaf-folded, streams where lilies lift their mild 
Light, pastoral fields, and cities, 'neath thy 

sphere 
Ships on their lonely way! thou radiance high 
And fair! the harmonies of earth dost hear; 



Prometheus* J5J 

The aery echoes of the unfathomed sky; 
And solemn sound that down the heavens rings, 
From glittering spheres, and rush of mighty 
wings ! 



(52 lanthe's Songf. 



lANTHE'S SONG. 

The nightingale, beneath the moon 

That floods with splendor all the quiet vales, 

Spends in sweet melody his passionate sighs ! 

What joy is his ! under the golden skies, 

To sing his love, that dreams and dares and fails ! 

What love is his that breaks his heart 
With music? woos he some spirit of night? 
Deep-hearted rose? or pearled lily born 
With the soft radiance of the silent morn, 
Dew-gemmed, with aery leaves of delicate light? 

The nightingale in melody 

Pours forth his raptured heart! O still thy 

strain, 
Sweet spirit ! or teach me thy minstrelsy. 
Thy passion musical, that Love may be 
A listener to my ecstasy and pain ! 



After Death. J53 



AFTER DEATH. 

Great m'Crcy 'twere! if we might know 

Whither their solemn spirits go 

Who, living, shared our hearths and lovel 

Within all silent, mournful places, 
We think to see their haunting faces : 
Their constant bosoms obdurate prove! 

And feet that ne'er afar have gone, 
Now, strange and secret ways are on ! 



(54 Andromeda* 



ANDROMEDA. 

Up from the lucent wave and sea-foam, rose 
A blunt head, hideous, gold-gleaming through 
The pale-green billow : shone one fiery eye 
Upon the maiden's shrinking beauty hung, 
Helpless, on the white rock above the deep, 
Sea-swept, and down-drawn by the swirling 

surge ; 
Her shuddering, trembling body, starting eyes. 
And piteous mouth agape in palsied fear. 
Fronting the monster, lidless eyed. It rose, 
Lashing in diamond spray the ocean mist. 
With glossy coils and lambent track upon 
The deep ; and oped its dragon jaws above 
Its prey : but ere it seized upon the maid — 
Wrathful, the hero raised his dripping shield. 
Whereon Medusa's head, a horror hung, 



Andromeda. <55 

Within its twisting folds of serpent locks; 
And with one glance of those appalling eyes 
Slew the sea-fiend that dropped, a lifeless wreath, 
Down glassy waves ! down to the beryl caves ! 
And surged the waters in huge waves, reared 

high 
In hollow billow — then ebbed from the shore ; 
While far and shrill from ocean's glaucous 

bowers, 
The pearly sea-caves of the blue-haired nymphs, 
Rose faint wails of sea voices from the deeps ! 
Then Perseus loosed the maiden from her chains, 
And cherishing her chilled hand in his, led 
His love, rejoicing, back to life and light! 



t56 Song* 



SONG. 

Is it the lark that sings from golden fields, 
'Mid pearls of May, and buds of dawn? or 

yields 
His song unto the dreaming nightingale, 
When sinking from bright heaven, his sweet 

notes fail ? 
Hush, hush, my soul ! it is the lark ! it is the 

lark! 

Is it the dawn shines on me, from the skies? 
Or Love, playing within her sacred eyes 
Waking from paly lids? where lilies blow, 
Rose-buds bloom soft, amid her virgin snow! 
Hiush, hush, my heart! it is the dawn! it is the 
dawn ! 



Song. t57 

May Love dwell in that heavenly Paradise? 
Or stir the balmy buds with longing sighs? 
O tremble, heart ! for angels guard that light ! 
The garden of her beauty from thy sight ! 
Hush, husk, my heart! thou may'st not sigh! 
thou may'st not sigh ! 



J58 Myls. 



IDYLS. 
I. 

AGLAE. 

We spoke of Love, of memories, and flowers, 
The first lights of the sky : and at the word 
Others sighed, gently smiled, and spoke at large, 
Sweet thoughts and quiet fancies: but you 

hushed, 
You said no word ; yet listening, I heard 
Sounds as of bees murmuring 'mid sweet flowers, 
Or humming of swift wings, or throb of strings ! 
They were the awakened echoes of your heart ! 

11. 

TREASURE-TROVE. 

From out the heaped wealth in your arms, you 

dropped 
One lucid blossom I reclaimed. You stopped; 



Idyls. J59 

With halting foot, swayed, gazing back on me — 
Then, smihng, passed: a faint rose momently 
Stained your white neck, beneath its curls. This 

flower. 
That smile are mine from out your heart's rich 

dower ! 

III. 
IN AFTER YEARS. 

Shaking the sparkling dew-drops from their 

locks, 
The rosy Hours circle my faint head : 
"Where are the roses once wreathed 'round your 

brows ?" 
They ask. "Alas !" I answer. "Where is that 
Love, Dirce, that you deemed oblivion ne'er 
Should bear away, on slow, unresting stream ? 
It flows, unwearied, to the farther shore; 
And love and hope have gone down that dim 

tide!" 



(60 Idyls. 

IV. 

MYRTIS. 

Like sunshine on the grass, upon my breast 
(H'er smiles fall : when th« sun in cloudbank 
dips, 

Her frowns are sweeter far than kisses prest, 
Folded in splendor down on perfect lips! 



Bird's Love. 161 



BIRD'S LOVE. 

Gold-crowned king of the birds, I sing ! 
Answers my mate, from rosy bough : 
'Mid bud and breeze and blossoming, 
And gusty leaves that toss and shine, 
Her tender notes still answer mine. 
Love, shall we nest? for May has walked 
In the green woods ; with the thrush talked ; 
And woven dewy wreaths of flowers 
From star-strown ways and wild-rose bowers 
And each white, blossomy orchard tree 
•O'erflows with hidden melody 
From fragrant spray and orbed drop, bright. 
Glittering, rose-round, to the light. 



i62 Lament* 



LAMENT. 

Through the dark night, my feet are led 
Towards thee ! my heart yearns to thee ! light, 
Mine eyes desire not — but thy face! 

hear me, for all hope has fled 

Since the great sun went down, and night 
Covers my head with darkness : grace 

1 ask not, save near thee to die ! 
To feel thy tears upon my face. 

When silence ends the heart's last sigh! 



Siegfried in the Forest. J 63 



SIEGFRIED IN THE FOREST. 

O'er the rims of the blue hills, passed the knights 
Into the forest old ; where branches low 
Brushed lofty casque, and a stray sunbeam shone 
On glittering greaves, and silver bugle, hung 
From jeweled baldric. 'Neath their mailed feet, 

rose 
Faint perfume of bruised feni, and moss, and 

buds, 
Milk-white, sprung in the hidden forest brake ; 
And fluttered, to tree-tops, a dove; and through 
The arches dim, fled fast the timid deer, 
Breaking their woodland covert ; with a glint 
Of golden horns : hushed was the rustling leaf 
Of mig'hty branching oak, and murmuring pine. 
Slow, passed they, bearing home the hero, slain ! 



164 Seigfried in the Forest* 

High, on his hollow, carven shield, he lay, 
Death-white and silent! in his mighty side, 
The spear wound gaped ; and swayed the listless 

head, 
With brow raised to the sky. Through the dim 

wood, 
They went; with solemn voices on the wind» 
In lamentation! ancient funeral chant! 



Love Doth Not Shine Throwgh Tears! J 65 



LOVE DOTH NOT SHINE THROUGH 
TEARS ! 

Love doth not shine through tears! 

No part has it in leaden care, and fears ! 

A breeze rocking the bees and blossoms, light 

Of Beauty's eyes, a winged spirit bright, 

The folding-star of dawn, an aery dream 

Lost with the bright morn's quivering, rosy 

gleam 
Is Love ! too radiant, visionary fair ! 
For numbing, human tears, earth-born despair ! 



t66 The Pot of Basil. 



THE POT OF BASIL. 

With open pane to let the warm night in, 

She slept. Her balmy breathing gently stirred 

Her tender breast; where ebbed and flowed the 

life 
Dream hushed 'neath the clear orb of the moon^ 
And fragrant breeze from honeyed flowers. 

Across 
Her lattice lay the blossoming, airy length 
Of some unearthly plant, with veined leaf 
Dew wet and sparkling, and crowned with a 

bloom 
Strange, swaying, starry-bright! with golden 

heart. 
And burning eye! a shining lamp of dreams, 
A delicate perfume upon the air 



The Pot of Basil. \67 

Calm, odorous; a faery blossom sprung 

By night — ^but O the strange and sad sound 

came 
From its vibrating leaves ! with passionate moan 
Filling that chamber sweet! until awake 
The dreamer shuddered from her silent rest; 
And in the magic moonshine clasped it close, 
And sighed, and kissed its flower face, with fall 
Of ceaseless tears ! its soft, mild light, profound. 
Shone on her tremulous beauty : its fair head 
Resting, star-bright, upon her frozen heart! 



J6S The Enchanted Garden. 



THE ENCHANTED GARDEN. 

There was a garden all of dewy fiowers 
Grew, fresh, unknown to nran : there lilies rang 
Delicate chimes of snowy bells ; 'neath showers 
And clear dews burst the musky rose; and 

sprang 
All lovely, aery blossoms that smelt sweet, 
Or had a honey heart, or dew-drop light 
Glittering on a starry flower- face meet 
For guest-birds leaving sky and cloudbank 

white. 
It had a flush of orchard bloom in May; 
And gilded insect craft of faery trim; 
The tented daisy, silver star of day. 
Long, laughing faery creatures in the dim 



The Enchanted Garden. 169 

And cool dwelt in my garden, lone, alone! 

In dewy stillness, till — Love ! thou didst come ! 

Broke through the hollies ; found the howers 

unknown : 
The fountain sinks, the nightingale is dumb: 
The trembling heart of the enchanted close 
Waits for thy hand to pluck the midmost rose. 



J 70 The Master. 



THE MA'STER. 

All was snow-cold, flower-perfect in my art 
Until I read your script ; unrolled the lengtb 
Of fme close manuscript. Words whelmed me? 

nay, 
It was yourself came, with a trumpet blare, 
On the majestic, sea-like roll of verse: 
A wave that washed away my plotted flowers, 
With a wild salt breath ! shriek of flapping 

birds ! 
A storm o'erflowed the limpid springs of life! 
I stood in ruined fields and looked afar. 
Lost in immensity — but stars o'erhead. 
What was that music? Came the answer — 

"Love!" 



Sunken Chimes. 171 



SUNKEN CHIMES. 

Soft, clear and slow ! 
With mournful chime, 
Up from sea-deeps, 
The pearl-strown caves 
Where dim light sleeps 
From emerald waves. 
Where no winds blow, 
Or glist'ningf flow'r 
Springs, from the tow'ri 
Beneath the sea. 
Ring hauntingly 
The bells below — 
Soft, clear and slow! 



f 72 Sunken Chimes* 

The sea-nymphs list; 
!A.nd rise, and lean 
O'er the blue deep. 
The watery main. 
Where sword-fish leap; 
And hover, fain, 
Up from the mist, 
To lure the white 
Sea-snake crowned bright! 
While far, far down. 
From the lost town 
The bells below. 
Ring soft and slow! 



Lyi:ics. J 73 



LYRICS. 



What gifts are brought thee, Love? 
Pale roses, odorous boughs, 
Field flowers, golden harvestings, 
The hyacinth that early springs. 
Ay, and pomegranate breathing East, 
Wild honey from the Muses' feast, 
Myrtle and laurel, budding vine, 
The bramble-rose and sweet woodbine; 
These are thy gifts. Love ! What do I 
Bring thee of beauty 'neath the sky? 
Alas! I bring my tears! 

What songs are brought thee, Love? 
Sweet piping from each down, 



J 74 Lyifics. 

The trembling, bridal melody 

Of merry wedding-minstrelsy, 

And songs of maytime blossoming, 

When lilies blow, and skylarks sing. 

When heavens are blue, and fields are gay. 

And bees among the blossoms stray; 

These are thy songs. Love! What, with string 

Of viol, do I to thee bring? 

Alas, I bring my sighs ! 

II. 

I saw where wrangling each with pettish cries, 
The infant Hope and Eros strove for thee: 
Alas ! thine were Love's bow and golden arrows ; 
Did'st turn thee from the other's profiPered 

flowers. 
Thy frowns chid one babe into tears — still clung 
His rosy playmate to thy skirts, for through 
That harshness, shone thy beauty like the sun 
Emerging from the drops of crystal shower. 



Lyrics* f75 

III. 

Love hath a need of e'en the smallest flower. 
Of bright blue skies, and breeze-blown dewy 

shower 
From gleaming clouds, and star of evening hour. 

It hath a need of memories and sighs, 

The old delight of childhood's brooks and skies. 

And garden scent and bloom and butterflies. 

For Love will each pure flower its star disclose, 

Each silver daisy turns a scented rose, 

In common paths the faery fern seed grows. 



THE COMBAT WITH THE DRAGON. 
(Heroic Poem.) 



177 



PERSONS. 

Sigurd, Olaf, Norse knights. 
Erica, a noble maiden. 
Helga, mother of Olaf. 

First Huntsman, Second Huntsman, Knights 
and Maidens. 



178 



The Combat With the Dragon. J 79 



THE COMBAT WITH THE DRAGON. 

Heroic Poem. 

Scene. — ^A wild, rocky pass of a mountain, 
leading up to densely wooded heights above. 

Enter Two Huntsmen. 

First Huntsman: 

The morning star is faded. 

Second Huntsman: 

The faint sky 
Glimmers with hues of rose and pearl : mists fly 
O'er the high peaks, before the breeze of dawn : 
Voices dispd the silence. 

First Huntsman: 
This way must 
He pass who to the combat with the Dragon 
Advances. O'er those solemn heights, and by 



J 80 The Combat With the Dtagon, 

High, dizzy paths, up to a barren crag, 
Pierced by a fearful cavern, Hes the way : 
Great rocks stand at the opening of that cave, 
Bone-strewn, wind-swept ! the hero, at its mouth. 
Must wind his horn to bring the fearful foe, 
Foaming and breathing death, its winding 

length 
Rustling its scales upon the cavern floor, 
Out to his challenge. 

Second Huntsman: 

Dauntless courage has 
The hero! thus to struggle with a foe 
Than man a thousandfold more terrible! 

First Huntsman: 
Its eyes shoot blinding sparks ! its shining har- 
ness 
Turns spear or blade — invulnerable its length 
Save at the heart ! its fearful, blasting breath 
O'ercomes the senses ! it§ fierce talons te3.r 



The Combat With the Dragfon. tZi 

Through armor and stout helm, and break the 

shaft 
Of lance as lightly as winds bend a reed! 
Conquering, it closes in its dread embrace — 
Crushing all life ; or hurling down the abyss — 
Both steed and rider: and to its grim terror 
It adds the soft perswasion of a voice 
Of magical and dulcet pleading ; tones 
Of the entreating child, or woman shriek 
Of pain and fear. It can discourse sweet music 
To thdfee who barken to its guile : a song 
Like that of the enchantress who o'er tide 
And running foam, beckons the mariner 
To her isle gemmed with bright buds, flush of 

rose, 
And riot of gold blossom, bee haunted, 
And fragrant lily-cups. O terrible 
The struggle with this monster that the hero 
Prepares for, e'en now ! 

Second Huntsman: 

iWho is this great champion? 



J 82 The Combat "With the Dragon* 

First Huntsman: 

Knight Olaf; who to- save the blighted land, 
A virgin, pure and blameless, comes unto 
Our aid. 

Second Huntsman: 

God nerve his arm ; and may the hosts 
That wait on noble deeds attend his way ! 
Harken! what strange, far sound above the 

heights ! 
Faint and yet clear! 

First Huntsman: 

The Dragon ! ah, the Dragon ! 
The hour approaches. 

(Exeunt.) 
Enter Olaf. 

Olaf: Clothed all in purity and prayer, I come, 
Thou mighty foe ! and this day that dawns clear 
Shall see thy death-fall. In my vigil, came 
A great voice o'er me, through the mighty dome. 
While incense floated in the tapers' glow, 



The Combat With the Dfagfon. J 83 

And rosy lights beat down upon my head. 

And blinding shafts of quivering, dazzling light; 

Saying — "By thy long prayer — sorrow endured 

Since first thy mother bore thee, on the isle. 

The misty isle deserted on the sea. 

Where drifted that wrecked vessel that brought 

her — • 
The tender victim of the brother kings ! 
And her scant follovv^ing tried, to its strange 

shore 
Shelving, sea-swept and shining, to the deep ! 
By thy adventure and quests manifold, 
Thy patient service, I command thee gird 
Thy youthful vigor for this last great trial ! 
Thou shall't prevail ! adventure thou thy life. 
And lose what thou shall't find!" Thou mother 

earth ! 
Escape thou not my feet ! but bear me firm 
Through all the gliding twists of my great foe : 
Inspire my limbs with thy endurance ! Winds, 
Bear far from me the monster's noxious breath 



J 84 The Combat With the Dragon. 

And blinding vapors, suffocating blasts! 
Blow clear from the white North and dissipate 
The arid air ! Great shield of Heaven, thou sun ! 
Send down thy golden, streaming, shining beams 
Within the cavern's shadows, and disperse 
The green and golden mists of sorcery! 
Winged monarch of the aery skies, gold-eyed, 
Clang me to victory ! I know not hate. 
Nor fear, nor scorn. Before my blade shall 

fall 
Evil, prone in dust. I come, thou foe ! (blows 

bugle) . 

High in thy misty fastnesses, hear thou 

My challenge ! 

(Exit up the pass.) 

Enter Sigurd. 

Sigurd: He lingers not, but rushes on his fate! 
Strange spinners 'neath the branching tree of 

Heaven, 
Decide this hour : I wait your will. If he 
Return back from that fearful cavern — here 



The Combat "With the Dfag:on. 185 

Ke must confront me : for no man shall live 
Who shames me with his nobleness. Shall I 
See him the sla3'er of that foe I shunned, 
In fear? I — boldest heart and whitest knight 
Of all the court ! and watch his bridals with 
That loveliest of maidens, Erica, 
My long beloved, whom, with patient service, 
I wooed to my arms ? Cursed be the heart 
That failed ! the arm that sank ! when he ap- 
peared. 
Heaven-sent and shining in his youthful beauty. 
From far adventure in the magic East, 
Where the gold banner flies o'er milk-white 

sands ; 
And reft my kingship o'er men from me ! I 
Dared all trials, and knew not that I could falter ! 
Ere that hour : but if he the Dragon slay, 
Great honor 'twere if I might o'ercome him. 
The conqueror. My glory I will wrest 
Back from him now, or die! (faint bugle blast, 
above). Harken, the challenge! 



J 86 The Combat "With the Dragfon* 

The struggle has begun ! O Shame that fires 
My heart aid me ! and Love that sees its loss ! 
Give back my manhood, hero! we cannot 
Be both the noblest, both the mightiest. 
This arm shall all decide. I will possess 
Her! free my soul — or die! Wins he? or has 
He fled? No sound blows down from the far 

heights, 
Where broods a magic fear. He hath drunk 

deep 
Of battle now, of blood and tears : a silence 
Lies on all things, on wing and leaf and stream — 
They await the issue, bliss or bane: and clouds 
Roll up the golden sky, and passionate light, 
A shadow on the rich vales, hung with flowers. 
White foam of blossom : the mysterious peaks 
Darken. Has he fallen? or risen above 
Our heads, in solemn majesty? No sound. 
No cry of the great monster's agony 
Descends, nor bruit of conflict: melody 
Of far enchantment that many a knight 



The Combat With the Dta^on. J 87 

Has heard above his dazzled, drows}'- brain — 
And passed to death in that wild, drifting music. 

shame ! O deathful sloth and fear ! I wait. 

(Withdraws at side.) 

Enter Olaf. 

Olaf: My brow touches the skies ! O thou low 

world, 
Bleeding and breathless, I await the shock 
Of countless foes ; my breast the bulwark 'gainst 
Their fury. Blow, thou bugle ! north, south, 

west, 
East ! victory ! to kings of distant lands, 

1 have drunk deep of battle, and have won. 
Blow, bugle! wake the echoes — victory! 

Sigurd: Thy armor hacked and dinted hangs : 

the dust 
Of conflict, with blood, darkens thy fair locks : 
Red drops fall fast from many wounds, the 

marks 



t88 The Combat "With the Drag-on. 

Of ravening claws, and tearing fangs! The 

monster- 
Lies it low? 

Olaf: It has perished. Nevermore, 
Shall it prey on fair flocks and hapless shepherd ; 
And darken, with its greed, the sunbright land. 
Up the wild steep, I took my way, by lone, 
Untrodden paths above the mountain mists. 
The woods and falling streams and dim ravine. 
Till reached I the grim lair of the dread worm ; 
A cavern deep and gloomy, 'round whose mouth 
Lay bleaching bones of victims ; a dark gulf 
That seemed the sloping entrance down to Hell ! 
No light saw I in that dim place ; until, 
Resigning my soul, blew I three clear blasts 
Of bugle, echoing to the hills: then grew 
A strange and shining splendor in that cave, 
And with a sound as of dead leaves adrift 
Within the golden, autumn woods, or hiss 
Of surf on gleaming beach, a coiling length, 
With fearful front, and eye of basilisk, 



The Combat With the Dfagon. tZ9 

Issued from darkness — and the struggle closed! 

Vainly I hurled the spear, and smote with blade 

Against that lustrous harness, still unharmed; 

And at each stroke with bellowing roar, it blew 

A vapor horrible about my head, 

Of sulphur fume, and poison virulent; 

And lashed its dread length o'er me. Once, 

down-thrown, 
I looked for death ! but struggled, seeking e'er 
The weak spot in that fearful, glittering mail; 
Weak with my hurts, and shadowed o'er with 

dread ! 
At last, snapt lay the spear, and hacked the 

sword : 
I 'scaped the shock, and once more, onward 

rushed — 
Felt o'er me close the dripping fangs — sprang 

back 
From out its clutches — slipped and fell ! but saw 
That instant near me the throb of its heart, 
Amid the winding, twisting, countless folds; 



190 The Combat With the Dragon. 

And ere it fastened on me, drove the blade 
Up to the hilt within the monster's breast! 
The air grew dark ; the fading, clouded skies 
Hung dim above the awful cry it sent 
Up in its anguish : then with bubbling blood, 
It passed in music wonderful and strange ! 
Like the white swan that o'er the lucent wave, 
Drifts, singing, in wild radiance, tO' its death, 
Upon the rosy waters of the lake! 
Limp lay the coils ! dull, lifeless, in the sun ; 
Their glittering hues, and elfin lustre dead, 
The gliding lights of purest emerald, 
And golden brede of its enchanted mail; 
And all remained was hideous, when life 
Had fled the Fiend. With panting breath, and 

pain, 
I rose from earth, and dragged my weary limbs 
Down the steep pass ; down to the happy fields 1 
Till o'er the shining hills and vales, I sent 
The bugle music of my victory ! 



The Combat With the Drag-on. I9i 

Sigui'd: Mighty art thou, Olaf: but hast not 

quelled 
Thy fiercest foe. My honor lies low in 
The dust of thy great conflict. I am knight 
And hero, and I struggle to the death 
For my lost fame. I charge thee, by thy oaths, 
To yield me combat : for by my faith, shall't 
Not stir hence, victor of the monster dead ; 
Till thou hast tried my manhood ! battled for 
Thy glory ! 

Olaf: Never have I striven for 
Mere petulance, and passion of the blood : 
But followed noble deeds, 

Sigurd: Yet must thou prove 

Thee now, against my sorrow and despair! 

Olaf: Wilt thou assay me, bleeding from my 

quest ? 
The elfin blood still crimsoning my brand ? 
All glorious with my conquest, and my strife ; 
The storm and mist of battle ? and dost think 



J92 The Gjmbat "With the Dfagfon. 

To overthrow me who have won, and shine, 
GHtt'ring in fellowship of knights? 

Sigurd: Dost hear 

The faint chant rises from the distant vale? 

The noble maiden, Erica, wends hither : 

Her maidens follow, 'mid the flowers and breeze, 

Shining o'er meads a-flame with colored buds — 

A vision 'mid the rosy dawn and light. 

She leads, with holy care, thy mother here. 

To hail thee hero. Never will I see 

Her in thy arms ! Flame from the ashes of 

My grey despair, I spring against thee ! Gird 

Thee ! arm and front me, Olaf, sword to sword ! 

And let her wed the victor in the fight — 

Strike ! 

Olaf: So wilt make a foe of me who should 
Be bound to thee with vows of brotherhood 
Closest and noblest, of pure faith — I close 
With thee! 

(They fight. Sigurd falls.) 



The Cmbat With the Dragon. J 93 

Sigurd: Christ! I am overcome! 

O'af: For thou 

Hast striven wickedly. May'st thou repent; 
This hour of passion past. I harm thee not. 
Heaven make thee worthy of thy vows : subdue 
Thy flame of pride to pure obedience. 

Enter Erica leading Helga; and Maidens. 

Helga: He lives! and God has heard my 

prayers that rose, 
Ceaselessly, all the silent night, afar 
In the rich city of the King : has heard 
The slow tears falling from my aged eyes, 
In patient rain; the anguish stifled lest 
Complaint mingle with prayer ! He lives I nor 

must 
I dwell, a lonely heart, beside a hearth 
Lonely and childless — hearing voices, past, 
A music on the wind of autumn days, 
Rising, failing, about the ruinous towers; 
Old footsteps echoing in chambers dim. 



194 The Combat With the Dragon. 

And ghostly corridors, 'mid falling rain! 

He lives : and God gains glory through his life ! 

His faithful knight. 

Erica: O Prince, thy prize am I, 
In thy great lists, awarded by the King: 
And so thou holdest me, a simple maid, 
A boon worthy thy taking — I am thine, 
O Prince! 

Olaf: Thy blessing, mother, on thy child! 
Let thy love crown my quest; be greatest gain 
Of glory for the task completed, that 
Shall shine gold on the shield giv'n by the King: 
And live in all high places, when I die ! 
In burning glory of the warrior-saints; 
In emblem and device ; and songs of bards 
Recounting tales of knighthood. Lo, 'tis done! 

Enter Knights. 

No more shall fear lurk in green field and mead, 
For shepherd, or the tiller of the soil : 



The Combat With the Dragon. J 95 

Or forest pathways hold a fiercer prey 
Than the deer of the wild woods, and the deeps. 
The land is freed ; and all the ways are clear 
From wood to sea ; and cleansed the fearful toils, 
O'er cloudy peaks with its enchantments hung. 
Where lay the monster grim ! Knights, brother- 
hearts. 
Who hold my honor, yours, the deed is done ! 
The quest completed ! I have slain the Dragon ! 

Knights (clashing their spears against their 
shields): Hail, Olaf, Olaf! hail! 



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